Mission: What!
by SaraiHyuga
Summary: Voldemort has gained control over the world of the wizards. But now that Dumbledore is gone, the Order doesn't know what would be best to do to protect the Chosen one. So they turn to the shinobi for help once again. Will they help? Will they accept this task, when their own village is in danger?*sequel of Mission: Hogwarts *Based on the seventh book of Harry Potter *usual pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Here I am again, guys! I am happy to continue this story! :)**

**For those of you, who don't know, Mission: What?!, is the sequel of Mission: Hogwarts, which wаs based on the 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' :)**

**However, I hope you'll like this story as much as you liked the previous one!**

**OH, before I forget, it's before the 4th Great Shinobi War and after Naruto has met Bee...you know, for later in the story :)**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

Tsunade slammed her forehead against the desk. Everything was so tiring. Maybe she shouldn't have accepted the duty of the Hokage at all. Now she would have been somewhere out there with Shizune, probably gambling and having fun, instead of being busy with all that paperwork. Or maybe she should have simply brought more sake with her in the morning.

" Tsunade-sama!"

She raised her head and faced Shizune. She was with messy hair, concerned expression, a twitching mouth and worst of all, a mad pig in her hands.

" What is it, Shizune?"

" There is...a visitor...a customer..."

The Hokage sighed in relief. She thought for a second, that there was another invasion. The village was already in a pitiful state and she didn't know what would happen if anybody tried to attack them now, when they were weaker than ever.

" What's wrong with that?"

" He's...he's one of them..."

Tsunade tensed for a moment. One of them? Why have they appeared now? A whole year she's never heard of the other world, the world beyond the hidden continent. But what was possibly happening there, that they were here once again? She sighed and raised her cup to her lips, drinking the last drops of sake for the day.

" Send him in."

Shizune walked out of the door with TonTon in her arms. Not after long, she returned, followed by a man, that Tsunade has never seen before in her whole life. She tensed on the chair once again, because she was expecting to see Dumbledore. The man was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey. He looked greatly familiar to Tsunade, but she simply couldn't remember him. Another thing, that surprised her, was that she saw a necklace on his neck. the same one she was keeping in her top drawer of the desk. The necklace that allowed her to speak English.

" Thank you, Shizune." Tsunade almost hissed through her teeth and Shizune left the cabinet, without saying anything further. " Who the hell are you?"

" Ah, you are Miss Tsunade, right? We've met once before...at the Ministry of Magic..." the man said in perfect Japanese. Ah, right...so the necklace allowed him to speak their native language.

" I don't remember you." the woman snapped and he smiled with a hint of sadness.

'' Yes, it's not only you, everybody is trying to forget what happened there. We've all lost precious people."

" I asked you something...Who are you?"

Before anybody could say anything, somebody barged in the room. Tsunade moved her furious glare from the man to the pink-haired hurricane and the scared Shizune.

" I tried to stop her...''

" Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura said and the Hokage noticed tears in her eyes. " We've lost two more..."

But then the rosette noticed the man in the room and she dropped the papers that she was holding.

" Lupin! W-What are you doing here?...Is-Is everybody alright?"

" You know him?" Tsunade raised her head.

" Of course I know him! You know him too!..."

Lupin looked at the pink-haired girl. Of course, he remembered her! How could anybody ever forget a person with pink hair? He smiled at her and she smiled back, hesitating whether to hug him or not. They ended up shaking their hands.

" What's going on?" Sakura asked, ignoring her master and Hokage.

" A lot of stuff are happening in our world...we need your help."

" Well, in case you haven't noticed, we need some help, too! Look at the state of our village! I can't help you right now! I simply can't let my shinobi go with you, when I need them here...It's...It's...insanity!"

The man sighed and then looked at his wand.

" What if I help you to repair your village? I think I'd be able to do something about it..."

" You can?" Sakura's eyebrows raised on her forehead. " I mean, it's _Reparo_, right? But...the village is huge..."

Tsunade shot her apprentice a glare. She knew their spells?

" What exactly is your offer, Lupin-san? And...why isn't Dumbledore-san here?"

The man looked away.

" That's...quite impossible for him...since...well, Professor Dumbledore is dead."

" What?" Sakura whispered in shock, unable to stop her arms from covering her mouth. Tsunade bit the inner side of her cheek.

" What do you want from my shinobi?"

" Look...we're in so much trouble. He-who-must-not-be-named is back. He's killing people again, as if it is nothing. The Death Eaters, that we captured a year ago at the Ministry...they broke free. His army is bigger than ever! And...we don't think that we'll be able to stop them by ourselves. Even powerful wizards fear him, they..they stand by his side in fear not to be killed! He's taken control over Hogwarts...and...Snape...he...he turned out to be his servant from the beginning! "

" What? Professor Snape is..." Sakura covered her mouth again, but this time,tears rolled down her face. Tsunade frowned at her. It's been really hard for the rosette in the last few days. She was in charge of the people in the hospital, since she was the best healer out there. And people kept on dying, just because there weren't enough quallified medics in Konoha. There were people coming from Sunagakure to help them, but it still wasn't enough...

Besides, she just found out, that one more person was dead, and that, another person, who was trusted by them, turned out to be on the other side.

" Sakura!" Tsunade banged her hand on the desk, catching the attention of the sobbing girl. " Bring the team, that was in their world last time...''

" But...everybody? Some of them are seriously injured!"

" Tch. Everybody except for them!"

Sakura bowed a little and escaped the room, leaving the member of the Order and the Hokage. She rushed past Shizune, who called after her, but Sakura ignored her. She made a note mentally, to later apologize.

She hurried to reach the Academy, where she knew, that Iruka was. She had literally no idea, where her teammates and friends were.

" Iruka-sensei!" she called out and a muffed voice came in response.

" Here!"

She hurried to one of the classrooms. The man was writing something, looking unbelievably tired and annoyed.

" Iruka-sensei...have you...have you seen either Sasuke, Naruto or Kakashi-sensei?"

" Hmm...let me think...I think Kakashi should be with Anko and Ebisu at the main gate. They are on guard there. Yes, that's right."

" And Yamato-taicho?"

" Yamato...Yamato...I think I saw him somewhere at the main square...he's building with the others..."

" Thank you, Iruka-sensei!" Sakura said and dashed off the room, leaving her former teacher rather surprised after the interrogation.

However, the rosette was running towards the Main Gate of Konoha. She took a little longer path, that would allow her to visit the main square and also Naruto's apartment before reaching her final destination. She bit her lower lip. What was going on over there? The images of Harry, Hermione and Ron, Ginny and Luna, Neville and even Draco appeared in her mind. What was happening with their friends?

She shook her head and looked around, spotting a man on top of the nearest building. She smirked.

" YAMATO-TAICHO!"

Well, that caught his attention. He jumped next to her and looked at her confused.

" Yamato-taicho...you have to come with me...orders from Tsunade-sama." the girl said and tightened her hitai-ate. " But first, we have to summon everybody that was with us there...in Hogwarts... I'll deal with my team and Gai's Team...You fins the others, team Asuma and Team Kurenai, OK?"

" Hai...but...Sakura, what the hell is-"

" I don't have time to explain. Once you find all of them take them to the Hokage's office! Oh, actually don' bother searching for Shino...he's at the hospital, I think..."

With that, the rosette drifted off to the apartment of the knucklehead. Fortunately, it was near. So, she landed in front of his door and knocked without any grace.

The blonde opened almost immediately.

" Hey, Sakura-chan! What are you...''

" Shut up and listen...Dress up and tell me where Sasuke is!"

" I am here..."

The tall, muscular boy appeared from Naruto's living room, staring at Sakura. He wasn't in his usual clothes, but in civilian T-shirt and pants. So was Naruto. It was their day off, after all. None of them expected to be summoned by the Hokage.

" It's them...they're back." Sakura sighed and the two boys exchanged glances. " Look, I'll meet you two in front of Tsunade-sama's office. I'll go find Kakashi-sensei and Gai's team... I have to go..."

" Wait, I'll come with you!" Sasuke said and stepped forward. The rosette pouted.

" No. Go change and meet me there...no objections, Uchiha! See you..."

Before she dashed off, she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. After that, she concentrated her chakra in her feet and pushed herself from the ground, moving way faster than before.

" Oi, dobe...what do you think is going on?"

" Who cares, teme, we get to see our friends again, ne?"

Sasuke snorted.

" Whatever, I'll see you there."

And with that, Sasuke also disappeared from Naruto's house. They left the blonde alone. He didn't wait anybody else to remind him, he turned around and quickly started dressing up properly and considering the options why there were wizards here, while eating a toast, which was a thing, that only Uzumaki Naruto could do.

Once he was fully dressed up, with a haori tightened on his leg and a hitai-ate on his forehead, he pushed himself from the door frame, towards the main building in Konoha.

It was a calm day. Naruto still wondered how a bunch of bandits managed to do this to their village. Actually...he did more damage than them, which was quite worrying. In his determination to stop the criminals, who were quite strong, by the way, he had to use his most powerful technique, Rasen Shuriken, a few times...which harmed his village quite a lot. BUT, he managed to stop the bad guys with his team's help. Naruto smiled. One hell of a team he had! It was weird to have a six man cell. that's why Team 7 sometimes split into two tinier teams, one of them, consisting of him, Sakura and Sasuke, and the second one- Kakashi, Yamato and Sai. Yes, it wasn't really fair, but that was the way they were working the best. And now they were all being called by the Hokage. Because of something, none of them had expected.

Naruto sighed, as he landed in front of it, seeing Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji and Ino being guided by Yamato. Not long after him, Sasuke arrived, too.

" I see...so she's called everybody?" the wood user muttered. " Where's Sakura?"

" She went for Kakashi and Gai's team. " Sasuke answered with narrowed at the building eyes.

All of them looked really concerned and nobody actually said anything, until the rosette, Kakashi, Lee, Neji and Tenten arrived.

" Good. We're all here...let's go."

Kakashi was walking in front of everybody. It was only natural, since he was the leader the last time. And nobody opposed that. Only were they looking forward to meet their old friend, whoever it was.

Without knocking, the Sharingan Copy ninja opened the door and after him, the whole gang entered the room, that suddenly felt tiny, because of all the people that were there.

Tsunade sighed.

" SHIZUNE! Bring me sake.."

" B-but, tsunade-sama..."

" NOW!"

Without saying another word, the assistant of the leader of the village, got out of the room with the little pig in her arms. But nobody was paying attention to their exchange of words, because they were too busy looking at the wizard.

" Lupin!" a few of the teenagers gasped, Naruto was looking like he was trying to remember from where he knew him,whilst Kakashi and Sasuke narrowed their eyes at him.

" Where's Dumbledore?" the Uchiha asked and noticed, how Sakura shrugged and looked away. Lupin bore his eyes in her, and then in Tsunade, who sighed.

" The man is dead."

" What?!" Yamato asked. " He is dead? Wasn't he the strongest wizard or something?"

" Yes." Lupin confirmed. " He was. It pains me to say this, but there was a traitor in the Order. Severus Snape killed Dumbledore. He has been on You-...on Voldemort's side from the beginning. The Dark Lord has obtained much stronger powers, he has taken control over the ministry, over Hogwarts, over everything. And now Snape is Hogwarts' headmaster."

" I-Impossible..." Hinata hid her face in her hands and Naruto pulled her closer to his body, embracing her tiny shoulders.

" And what's happened to the boy?" Neji asked and that caught Lupin's attention. " How id harry now, that Voldemort has...everything?"

" Harry is...Harry is fine. He still doesn't know. He's still at the house of his uncle and aunt. While he's there, nobody can harm him. But we planned on taking him out tomorrow."

" Tomorrow..."

" Yes...but that's not why we want your help. We...we don't know what is going to happen. The kids have to return in hogwarts, but...there's no way Snape will let you stay in there. He's not on our side. Look, we know how talented you are...We were thinking...can you somehow sneak in Hogwarts? And take care of our kids?"

" Of course!" Naruto said immediately, receiving a deathly gaze from tsunade.

" No way!" she hissed and Lupin looked at her almost beggingly.

" We'll offer anything to you! The amount of money is not a problem!"

" I can only give you five shinobi! there's no way I'll let all of them to come for this only!"

" I don't mind the number. It's irrelevant to us, since we know, how powerful all of them are...you see, we need the protection and we can't...we simply can't do it on our own."

" I get it...now shut up, I'm thinking who to send with you!" tsunade said with a sigh, looking through the faces f her shinobi. Suddenly, she frowned. " Where's Shino?"

" In the hospital." sakura hurried to answer and her master snorted.

" Pity. He would have been a nice person to send. he's not immature and he can sort his thoughts...however..."

" What are you thinking, granny?" naruto asked with anger in his voice. " I will go!"

" First to go is Kakashi. You'll be the leader of the mission!" Tsunade said, ignoring the blonde teenage. The sensei stepped forward to Lupin, winking at him.

" Second...Sasuke...third...Hinata!"

The said shinobi stepped next to the wizard with blank expressions.

" We need a medic...Sakura! You're going too!..And that leaves one person...Shikamaru, what do you think about this?"

The boy looked around and sighed.

" It's obvious, isn't it? Look at who you've got. You've got a leader, you've got a tracker, a medic, a strategist...you only need the power. It's either Kiba, Neji, Choji or Naruto for this task. but since Choji works best on a team, I don't think he'll be suitable and since Ino and Tenten are staying, I don't think Neji and Kiba would be very fond of the idea to leave. And also, Hinata's going, which make it even clearer...Oh, and his other teammates are going, so...Naruto should go." the blonde grinned next to the Nara and patted his shoulder. " Besides, he won't stop complaining if you don't let him, It would be troublesome."

Tsunade looked at the smart Nara and the very, very happy Uzumaki.

" Fine. You go. But if I hear that you've disobeyed kakashi even once you're coming back home and I'll be sending everybody else on your place! Am I clear?"

" Yes, sir! I mean, Granny!"

" Shut up!" the woman growled and looked at the team she had assembled. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata and naruto. Yes, that would do. They were all powerful and she knew, that they would be able to complete that task. Sneak into a castle and take care of students. But still, it was not in their world, it was in the unknown.

" That's an A-class-mission!" she said and took out a scroll and sealed it. She handed it to Kakashi and then turned to Lupin. " When do you have to go?"

" I have to be back in London by tomorrow afternoon. So until then, every time would do."

" Good. You'll leave tomorrow, first thing in the morning. kakashi, you have a spare bed, don't you? Let Lupin spend the night at your home. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Hinata will stay. The others, go back to what you were doing!"

Some of them seemed disappointed, that they weren't chosen, Tenten and Kiba, for example. They were fuming and were cursing, while getting out of the office. Others, like Neji were looking at the chosen ones for the mission with concern and darker than usual eyes.

Once everybody was out, except for the customer-Lupin, and the assigned team, Tsunade sighed heavily.

" Why do you always turn to our village for help? There are other countries, you know?"

" Dumbledore turned to you, since he knew you were the best of all. That's why I'm here, too..." Lupin said with a peaceful smile. He was probably way more calmer, that the hokage has accepted to offer her help. At least he wouldn't have to wander around to find other people to hire. besides, he wouldn't know if they would be suitable. But now, that he saw the people next to him, he felt joy from the inside. The last time they've been with them, they were ready to give their lives for harry and the others. They were helping them with the fights, well, maybe because their own snake-freak was after the beautiful raven haired guy in the line, but it still didn't matter.

He was staring at them for a while. Kakashi was the same like two years ago. He hasn't changed. Or maybe he has, but because of the mask, Lupin couldn't find any difference. But the teens sure did look a bit older, more mature. Especially Naruto. He was taller and more muscular than before, he had a weird sparkle in his eye, indicating that he wasn't as reckless as before. He _had_ grown up.

" So that's it...just because of glory..." Tsunade sighed and then suddenly smirked. " Well, Dumbledore was right! We _are_ the best!"

Lupin sweatdropped and Naruto grinned widely.

" yeah, me and Sasuke-teme stopped the invasion by ourselves, dattebayo!"

" You ruined the city, dobe..."

" Teme!"

" Dobe."

" Teme!"

" Dobe."

" ENOUGH!" Tsunade was holding them by the collars. The blonde guy seemed to fear her, while the Uchiha was looking at her condescending, insolently...She felt the urge to through him out of the window, but released him, as well as Naruto. " I hope you've understood the most important part!...Dumbledore is dead, Voldemort has the wizarding world under his control and you have to protect the kids..."

" Actually...not all the kids...we meant Harry. Like, I thought it was obvious."

tsunade glared at Lupin.

" Fine! My bad...Dumbledore is dead, Voldemort has the wizarding world under his control and you have to protect Potter. That's it. Lupin, you will stay to give me details and you, Kakashi will stay to listen to them. the other can leave. Go get your stuff and say goodbye. I want you fresh at seven A.M. tomorrow morning at the Main Gate. Clear?'

" Hai!"

" Good. You're free to go."

With that, the four teenagers left the room. Hinata's heart was pounding, Naruto was grinning, Sakura was biting her lower lip and Sasuke was staring into nothing in particular.

" We're so fucked up..." sakura said. " Voldemort has everything under his control and she only sends five of us?! Last time he was weak and we were like fifteen! She's out of her mind!"

" Chill..." Sasuke said and embraced her in his cold, yet warm Uchiha-way. " We had to fight the Akatsuki last time."

" Sakura-chan, relax! There is nobody he could have hired this time!" Naruto patted Sakura's head carelessly. " We're against wizards only and they suck..."

" That's not right...N-naruto-kun!" hinata shook her head. " They are strong. they've developed powers, that we don't possess. They have lots of spells, very dangerous, too. The only thing is, that they can't keep up with our rapidity."

" Blah, the fact is, that I'm better than them..."

" You are so self-confident, that it's making me mad!" Sakura muttered and caught Sasuke's arm. " Let's go, Sasuke!''

When they left, Naruto turned to Hinata with a growling stomach.

" Ne, Hinata, how about a cup of ramen? I won't get to eat proper food in a year, so let's go to Ichiraku's!...My treat."

Hinata smirked and intertwined her fingers with his.

" Yes. Sure."

* * *

At the same time, far, far away from the Hidden Continent, in London, Snape was looking at the woman, quite impassive, who was hanging in the air. Tears were pouring from her eyes into her hair, as she turned slowly away from his again.

"Avada Kedavra."

The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. The crying woman fell, with a resounding crash, onto the table below, which trembled and creaked. Several of the Death Eaters leapt back in their chairs. Draco fell out of his onto the floor.

"Dinner, Nagini," said Voldemort softly, and the great snake swayed and slithered from his shoulders onto the polished wood.

At the moment, none of them expected to ever meet one of _them_ again. Oh, how wrong they were, each and every one of them...

* * *

**That was the first chapter out for all of you! I really hope you liked it :)**

**I'll try to post soon :)**

**I'll be really glad if this story receives as much feedback as it's prequel! That would make me insanely happy! **

**xox**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just so that it's clear:**

'speech' **- English**

_'speech'_ **- Japanese**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Chapter 2**_

The house in front of them was something really...really what?...well, probably odd was the best word. Yes, it was odd in every aspect and they've never seen it before. Well, all of them have been expecting from Lupin to apparate them back into Grimmauld place, but they were on the field in front of...

_" That's the Burrow."_ Lupin said and looked at the building. _" That's the home of the Weasleys and the current place, where the Order meats..."_

_" What about the house of Sirius? It was...bigger."_ Sakura said with gesturing and Lupin shrugged.

_" When Sirius died, he entrusted the house to Harry,but with his death, the protections fell and we never really knew, whether we would be safe there. Bellatrix Lestrange, one of You-know-who's best Death Eaters, was a blood relative of Sirius, so there might be a chance of her taking over the house. So it's best for us to stay here."_

The five shinobi stared at the building, until a very familiar woman got out of it. She was chubby, with red wavy hair, an apron and a friendly expression. Behind her, a girl escaped the house and let out a short shriek, before she ran towards the shinobi. The girl's hair resembled fire. Before they really could understand what was going on, the woman was hugging each and every one of them, as well as the girl.

" Oh Merlin, you actually came!" the woman cried out and smiled.

Yes, that's right. It was Mrs. Weasley. She hasn't changed much, she only seemed a lot more worried than before. She covered her mouth with her hands for a while, her gaze running on every shinobi in front of her.

" Oh my god, kids, you've grown so much! Oh my, what am I doing...I am so senseless! You must be hungry! I'll go prepare something!"

She hurried back to the house and now it was the girl's turn to observe the newcomers with a spark in her eyes. The first person to move was Sakura. She made a step forward and pulled the girl in a hug.

" Ginny!''

"Sakura! Hinata...oh my, Naruto and Sasuke! And Kakashi! I am do glad! But, where are the others? Neji and..."

Kakashi , obviously understanding only the names from what she'd said, smiled and patted the young girl's head. Instead of him, Lupin answered.

" Their village was in a really bad condition. They were attacked the day before I arrived and they have lost many people. Tsunade couldn't afford to send many people now, that her village was weak."

Ginny looked pitifully at the shinobi, who were looking around kind of clueless. Kakashi patted Lupin's shoulder.

_" How are we to communicate with you? These don't seem to work.."_ the leader of the group pointed the crystal on his necklace and Lupin frowned.

_" Give them to me. I will renew the spell and give them back to you in a while, OK? But now, we'll lead you to the rooms."_

Lupin collected the five necklaces, that Dumbledore had given them two years earlier and then turned to Ginny.

" Show them the rooms they will stay in. Right now only gestures will do. I have to check that spell in the book again, it will take me ten minutes. Just accomodate them, alright?"

" Of course!" she smiled and turned to the shinobi and signed them to follow her.

" Ne, she's grown! I wonder where the others are, though..." Naruto said and scratched his head , looking at his teammates.

" Yes, I'm eager to m-meet H-Harry and the others, too..." Hinata said and squeezed Naruto's arm, as they entered the house. It was empty, except for the woman in the kitchen. Ginny pointed the stairs and led them to the net floor. She opened one of the doors, which led to a little room with four beds in it. She caught Sakura and Hinata and dragged them in, then smiled.

" Hermione." she said and pointed at her chest. It took them a few seconds to understand, that they'd have to share the room with the Weasley and the other girl. Sakura nodded and sat on one of the beds. Ginny then turned to the boys and showed them the only door down the hallway.

" Ron. Harry."

Kakashi nodded with a smile, before Ginny shut the door in front of their eyes, turning back to the girls.

"_ I guess they're going to talk about girly stuff..."_ Naruto said and Sasuke smacked him on the head.

_" They can't communicate right now, dobe! Use the little amount of brain you have and think!"_

_" Ah, right..I almost forgot."_ the blonde grinned and opened the door to only see an empty room with five beds.

_" Where is everybody?"_ Kakashi muttered and left his bag on the floor, looking around.

* * *

They were eating the best pancakes ever. Mrs Weasley has obviously put much effort in them.

" It's...amazing!" Naruto said after he swallowed and looked at the woman, who was smiling friendly.

" Thank you, dear!"

" Anyway..." Sasuke spoke for the first time, since Lupin gave them the necklaces back and attracted the attention . " Where are the others?"

Molly exchanged glances with Lupin, while the other shinobi looked up to hear the answer

" I told you, didn't I? We're transferring Harry tonight. They are preparing...and well, they should be coming back any minute, because we have to head out for Harry's place in an hour..."

" Do you think Mad eye has found Mundungus?" Mrs. Weasley asked, holding her wand tightly.

'' Of course, Molly! That's Mad eye, after all!" Lupin said with a calm expression.

" And may I ask, how do you intend to bring him?" Kakashi asked calmly, while playing with his fork. Naruto also noticed, that the man has already eaten his pancakes and frowned. When has that happened? He never saw him even pulling his mask off. Which was the whole point. Damn, he maybe could ask some of the wizards to make that piece of cloth vanish. But knowing Kakashi, he probably had some kind of seal on it.

" Mad-Eye has planned everything...wait, you know Mad-Eye, right?"

" The man with the Mad-Eye?" Naruto asked and Sakura and Sasuke snorted in the same time. " Yup, we know him!"

" Well, here's the plan." Lupin said in a lower voice and Molly Weasley looked around concerned. Jinny pouted and looked at the talking man darkly. " Thirteen people will go to pick up Harry. Six of them will drink a potion and their appearances will change into Harry's. The other seven people will accompany each of the Harry's and will scatter in seven different houses in London, where they will find portkeys, which would transfer them here. It's simple as that. There shouldn't be any problems, since we even made Dawlish slip in the Ministry, thatHarry will not be moved until the thirtieth of this month, the evening before he turns seventeen."

" Ah. So you'll take precautions even if there is no threat? Smart..." Kakashi commented, while reading his book. Nobody has even noticed, when he had taken the book out, except for Sasuke. Probably.

" Yes. We may not be as smart as you, but we have brains. Besides, you taught us that. We should never let our guard down."

" I am not sure, that Naruto has any brain cells, but whatever..." Sakura whispered and Hinata and Kakashi giggled. Sasuke smirked mysteriously, while Naruto looked at the rosette, as if he had been betrayed.

" Cruel, Sakura-chan, cruel..."

Jinny smiled, but her smile suddenly faded away and she stood up, since she's heard the sound from the yard. Not only her, but also the other two wizards looked around cautiously, while the shinobi had their kunais and in Sasuke's case, sword, out. The teens were staying ready to attack, while Kakashi was sneaking towards the door with a ready weapon in his hand.

" Hey, we're ba-...WOAH!..."

The boy's clothes ware pinned to the wall by a few shurikens, therefore making him hang, unable to move. Mrs Weasley let out a shout for a second, then she approached the red headed boy, who was looking around.

" Ron? Is that you?"

"...Naruto? Bloody hell, it really is you, guys!" the boy laughed happily, while the other people entered the room. Kakashi laughed awkwardly and hurried to pull his shurikens out, so that the boy fell to the ground.

Ron, long and lanky; Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait; Fred and George, grinning identically; one more orange headed guy,badly scarred and long-haired; Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was a very familiar shade of bright pink, known to everybody from the kunoichi in the room; a young, unknown to them woman, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Kingsley, taller and broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and a man, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy bloodhound's eyes and matted hair, who the shinobi assumed was Mundungus, the one Lupin was talking a while back.

Most of them knew the shinobi. So that's why Ron and Hermione jumped in and started hugging the five newcomers, while the others were explaining to the ginger, the blonde woman and the stinky little man, who they were.

" Ach! So you are 'Arry's friends!" the blonde woman clapped with a charming smile on her face, while the orange haired man with the scars embraced her. " Nice to meet you all! I am Fleur!"

" And I'm Bill Weasley..." the guy next to her said, They shook hands with the shinobi.

" I'm Hata-...I mean, Kakashi Hatake."

" H-Hello! I am Hinata."

" Sakura, nice to meet you!"

" Naruto, dattebayo!"

" Hn. Sasuke."

After the shinobi introduced themselves, the people sat around the table, that was sudden;y twice bigger than moments ago. Maybe Hinata has really been right back then. They really have developed magic, that had nothing to do with their jutsus. For example, the expansion of the table. Kakashi certainly didn't know a jutsu he could use to do that.

" Is everything ready, Mad-Eye?'' Lupin asked and the certain man nodded with a grunt.

" Yes. We've decided on moving with brooms and thestrals. That's the safest way, since Harry still bears the trace and the Ministry is keeping an eye on his fireplace and well on us, apparating."

" I have a question!" naruto interrupted the man and he frowned at him, while Tonks looked rather amused. " What are thestrals?''

Sakura rolled her eyes, before answering quicker than anybody, even hermione.

" A Thestral is a breed of winged horses with a skeletal body, face with reptilian features, and wide, leathery wings that resemble a bat's. Thestrals are, undeservedly, known as omens of misfortune and aggression by many wizards because they are visible only to those who have witnessed death at least once."

" Cool...so it's something like a dragon?"

" Not...quite...However, I've decided on the teams already. Hagrid. You'll accompany the real Harry. That's not a burden, is it?" Mad-Eye raised his eyebrow, looking like, that even if Hagrid said it was a burden, he wouldn't care. The half giant frowned.

" Are ya mad? 'Course it's not a burden! Harry's precious to me! He's Lilly and James' kiddo, the only one who can get us all out of this mess, after all..."

Mad-Eye nodded, while his magical eye bore into Mundungus, who seemed like he was trying to escape. But as he sensed, that he was being watched, he froze in his place.

" I still don't understand why you're here, guys!" Hermione said and turned to the ninja.

" It's obvious, isn't it?" Sakura smiled at her.

" It isn't obvious to us..." Ron said and Sasuke sighed annoyed.

" Dear God. What is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so _boring_."

He received a few disapproving glares from the people in the room, while the rosette continued.

" Well, we're here to protect Harry, of course. I mean, when you head to Hogwarts, we will come with you.." she smiled.

On the other side of the table, the smiles of Hermione and Ron disappeared for a second, while they stared at each other. Then they both smiled back at the shinobi. But none of them missed what has happened in this second. None of the ninja failed to see the way they looked at each other worriedly.

" Good." Mad-Eye stood up. " I want everybody, who's coming to pick up Harry, here in twenty minutes. And Lupin, don't let that brat escape..."

He pointed Mundungus and then disappeared. the other wizards moved, ready to scatter. Tonks and Kingsley started helping out Hagrid, whose leg was stuck under the table. Lupin was observing the cursing Mundungus.

" It was rreally nice to meet you, frriends of 'Arry!" Fleur smiled and Bill stood next to her.

" Yes, we really are grateful, that you're on our side. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet you last time, but I have heard of what you've done for us back then. I'm really impressed and, as i already said, thankful, that you're here."

Then they disappeared up the stairs.

" Yeah, i think I'm going to change..." Ron said and stretched.

" I'm coming with you." Sasuke said with a determined look. The redhead looked around a bit confused, but then shrugged.

" Fine..."

_" What is he doing?"_ Naruto asked after the two boys were gone.

_" Don't tell me you didn't see that, Naruto-kun!_" Hinata whispered. _" He'll obviously try to understand what's going on."_

The blonde nodded and Hermione turned to them with a smile.

" Now, now, whispering is not polite!"

Sakura smiled at her friend and looked her in the eye.

" I am sorry, Hermione...however, tell us, what happened last year? We heard that...that Professor Dumbledore was..."

" Ah, yes.." the girl's eyes darkened and she clanked on the table. " Such a great loss...Other than that...well, you probably already know that...you-know-who has risen, we're ...'

" Well, you're basically all screwed." Kakashi said and Hermione nodded with a smirk.

" That's why you're here."

" Exactly..." Hinata smiled, but didn't finish, since Sasuke was coming down the stairs with a frown. " Will you excuse us for a minute, Hermione?"

" Eer, yeah, sure..." the girl said and stood up from the table, emptying space.

" Sasuke?" Sakura stood up and squeezed his arm. _" Did you manage to find out something?"_

_" Oh, I found out everything."_ he said darkly.

_" He didn't simply say the things calmly to you, right? You either threatened his life, or you used those damned eyes of yours."_

_" Hn. I used the Sharingan. He won't even remember."_ Sasuke snapped at Naruto, who stuck his tongue at him. " However, that's not the point."

_" What is it, then?"_ Kakashi looked at him directly, closing the book. Sasuke stared at the back of Hermione, who has started speaking with Fred and George. He then looked back at his comrades. _" The three brats are after something..they want to destroy something Dumbledore has told them to...In other words, they don't intend on returning to Hogwarts."_

* * *

"Good-bye," said Harry.

Aunt Petunia stopped and looked back. For a moment Harry had the strangest feeling that she wanted to say something to him. She gave him an odd, tremulous look and seemed to teeter on the edge of speech, but then, with a little jerk of her head, she bustled out of the room after her husband and son.

Harry ran back upstairs to his bedroom, arriving at the window just in time to see the Dursleys' cat swinging out of the drive and off up the road. Dedalus's top hat was visible between Aunt Petunia and Dudley in the backseat. The car turned right at the end of Privet Drive, its windows burned scarlet for a moment in the now setting sun, and  
then it was gone.

* * *

**I'm sorry for taking this long, guys, it really isn't like me, but I was pretty busy with my other stories :)**

**I really hope you liked it! If you did, please review, let me know what you think! :)**

**Also, if you have any ideas or wishes, feel free to PM me! :)**

**Until next time, lovelies! **

**xox**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Sakura's hands were covered in a green glow, while they were covering the left side of George's face. He wasn't joking with his twin for the first time ever. Not only them, but also the other wizards were looking extremely depressed, because of the death of Mad-Eye. Even the shinobi seemed down.

" I should have gone with them!" Naruto said after a while, biting his lower lip. " If I have-...If any of us has gone, everybody would have been fine!"

" I-It wasn't something that any of us would have known...Naruto-kun, don't blame yourself.." Hinata stroked his back gently with a little smile on her sad face.

" It's all my fault..." Harry said from the table, pursing his lips. But he didn't really get to finish, since Lupin placed his hand on the shoulder and Bill narrowed his eyes.

" It's not your fault, Harry...It's Mundungus' fault!"

'' So Mundungus disappeared?" said Lupin, who had drained his own glass in one. The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Lupin both wanting him to go on, it seemed to Harry, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.

" I know what you're thinking," said Bill. "and I wondered that too, one the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone  
panic."

" You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks, "Mad-Eye said he's expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled  
Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley. . . . "

" Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey knew we were moving 'Arry tonight, does it? Somebody must 'ave been  
careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zeim knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."

She glared around at them all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. the only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccuping from behind his handkerchief. Harry glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save Harry's— Hagrid, whom he loved, whom he trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg...

" No," Harry said out loud, and they all looked at him, surprised. The firewhisky seemed to have amplified his voice. "I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault, " he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."

" Wait a second..." Kakashi interrupted, while closing his book for the first time in the evening, catching everybody's attention. " So Mundungus gave the idea and after that he disappeared. BUT, nobody from those Death Eaters knew about Mad-Eye's plan of having 7 Harry-s. Am I right?"

" Yes, exactly..." Lupin nodded and Kakashi sighed.

" Yup, it's complicated." he said, causing a disaster in the room, when he sat back on the little couch. Naruto and Sakura looked at him, as if he had slapped them, Sasuke was annoyed and Hinata shook her head slightly.

" So you have no idea what's going on..." Mr Weasley said with raised eyebrows at the already reading Kakashi.

" No, I have no idea."

" Nothing in mind?" Hermione asked further, still hoping that the shinobi would give them answers to unspoken questions.

" Well, there is something on my mind..." Kakashi said, catching the attention of everybody. "...those pancakes from before were really delicious!"

_" BAKA! You're not supposed to think about food in a situation like this one!"_ Sakura fumed, trying to land a hit on her sensei's head, which he dodged easily.

_" What's with the situation?"_ he asked calmly. _" They know what is going on around them. They should be ready to lose many more lives for the sake of their freedom." _

_" That's our way of thinking, K-Kakashi-sensei."_ Hinata stuttered._ " They are different. They are not used to that. It's a part of our lives, because that's the risk we've taken with accepting these hitai-ate when we graduated the Academy. But they are...they are not us. "_

" What's happening there?" Ron asked. " Please, tell me you have some idea.."

" Hn. No. Just talking how there will be many more deaths if you really want to defeat that man."

" S-SASUKE!" Sakura turned to him with her clenched fists. After he shot her a stare, she calmed down and returned to healing the missing ear of George.

However, the words of Sasuke were met with shock, mostly. Then there was realisation and sadness written all over the faces of the present wizards.

" That's exactly what I don't want...Just because of me, people risk their lives." Harry shook his head.

" Aaand...you're completely wrong once again!" Naruto grinned. " It's you who are risking your life for everybody. You're the Chosen one, after all, right?"

" And so what?" Harry said in a dark voice, maybe because of the whiskey he had drunk. " What if the crap about the Chosen One is all bullshit...what if...what if I fail with my task? What if I cannot kill him?"

Hermione shot him a glare, Ron looked around uncomfortably. And that, of course, wasn't missed by the shinobi.

" That's it..." Kakashi said and closed his book once again. " Sasuke, Naruto...would you please..."

Nobody could actually realize what was going on, until they spotted Naruto, who was carrying Harry and Sasuke-Hermione and Ron, on the stairs, dragging them upstairs.

" What's going on? Why did..." Molly said with widened, red from the crying eyes.

" Don't worry. We want to have a word with them..." Kakashi said and signed the girls to follow the other shinobi. It wasn't hard to find them in the house with Hinata's Byakugan. The wizards were sitting on the bed, looking at the shinobi cautiously, maybe even a bit scared.

" W-What do you want? Why did you..." Hermione said, but Sakura raised her arm.

" Don't be afraid of us, Hermione...you know we are your friends and that's exactly why we're here. We are here to protect you!"

" I know you're here because of us, but..."

" What's a 'horcrux'?" Sasuke skipped the formalities and stared at the shocked wizards with his blank, black eyes.

" H-How did you know?" Harry asked, whispering.

" He asked first!" Naruto joined and received a glare from his teammate.

" Enough with the childish games." Kakashi sighed and sat on the floor. " Look, we're here to help you. So we'd be really happy if you cooperate. We really don't want this to end with us using the interrogation methods of shinobi, which, I assure you, are not really pleasing...Oh, and before you start speaking...you have to know, that Sasuke has the power to understand if you're lying."

As if to verify that, the wizards turned to the certain ninja, whose eyes were now red and really, really threatening.

" Now, if you please..." Kakashi said with a smile and the wizards stared at each other. Ron gulped, Hermione bit her lip and Harry sighed, knowing that he _had_ to talk.

" We're not returning to Hogwarts..." he said with a low voice.

" Yeah, we already know that. We asked what a horcrux is and why you're after it." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

" B-But how did you know that...Alright, who told them? " Harry turned to his friends, who seemed to be angry at him.

" We didn't tell anybody! We swore!"

" Yeah..." Ron added.

" We told you we had our ways of finding things out, and you should know that already..."

Kakashi was interrupted by Ron's gasp. He pointed at Sasuke and his lower lip twitched.

" It was you, right? When I was changing!"

" Good job, Sherlock, now..." Sasuke said with a deep sigh, while embracing Sakura. " ...stop blabbing and talk. We're supposed to protect you, so that means we have no business in Hogwarts if you're not there. We should come with you to find the horcrux...so...what is it?"

Hermione sighed, slightly amused by the longest thing Sasuke has ever said in front of them.

" It's a...A horcrux is a powerful object in which a dark wizard or witch, in our case, You-know-who, has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. "

" So basically Voldemort has hidden his soul in a...thing?" Naruto furrowed his brows. " that doesn't reveal much, you know..."

Hermione shook her head.

" Creating one horcrux gives one the ability to anchor one's own soul to earth if the body is destroyed; the more horcruxes one creates, the closer one is to true immortality. Voldemort has six, from what we know. Creating multiple horcruxes is suggested to be costly to the creator, by both diminishing their humanity and even physically disfiguring them."

" Oh, so that's why he...he hasn't got a n-nose..." Hinata suggested and the trio shared glances.

" I've never thought about it that way before!" Ron muttered and Harry nodded.

" Me either.."

" However, so he has something like a back-up plan if you kill him?" Sakura asked and then frowned. "Actually, six back-up plans?"

" No. He has four. Two of his horcruxes are already destroyed."

" Does he know about that?" Kakashi asked with a serious expression.

" I don't think so. I...I would have felt something if he knew. He is still oblivious to the fact, that he's already being destroyed." Harry inhaled with difficulties and Hermione shot him a disapproving glare.

" So that's what Dumbledore's task is." Naruto sighed to everybody's surprise. " You have to destroy the horcruxes and then kill Voldemort himself, right?"

" Yes."

" That doesn't sound so difficult to me." Hinata shrugged and Sakura nodded.

" Yeah, well, his horcruxes are hidden in different places, unknown to us. Besides, even if we find them, they are protected with the highest class magic. It won't be so easy to find them and destroy them. And then there's Voldemort himself. It is almost..."

" What are you talking about?" Naruto interrupted Harry again with a smug smile. " We're with you, right? Magic...hmph...who needs magic, when you have chakra?"

" Hey, that was rude..." Ron said after a while, but didn't sound angry at all, maybe even a bit relieved.

" So you're coming with us?" Hermione asked with a smile and the five shinobi nodded together.

" No, absolutely not..." Harry stood up and licked his lips. " Two people risking their lives because of me is enough...I don't need five more to worry about. Thank you so much for the help, but...please, return home."

" How funny, he actually thinks he has anything to say about it.." Naruto laughed along with Sakura and Hinata.

Harry looked at him darkly, ready to say something again, but was interrupted, by Sasuke's raised hand.

" Even if we say that we won't come, we'll be lying. We will be following you and you won't even realize you're going to be watched the whole time. So you can simply shut up and accept the fact, that we're not going to leave you. Especially now, that we've known each other and we're...and we don't hate each other..."

" He means now that we're friends.." Kakashi shot the young teenage shinobi a glare and Naruto ruffled his raven hair.

" Yeah, friends...ignore Sasuke, he has social issues..."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Sakura's tiny hand covered it.

" There's no point in arguing with us, Harry...Please,don't make us reach the point where we'll use Sasuke's eyes to persuade you..."

" You can do that? It must be something like the Impreius curse..." Hermione muttered more to herself and Harry frowned even more, when Ron patted his shoulder.

" So you really want to come..." Harry muttered.

" O-of course, Harry! We won't let our friends to deal with this on their own..." Hinata smiled.

" And you won't change your minds whatever I say?"

" Nope."

" God, you're annoying..." Harry grinned at the shinobi. " We'll leave in a few days."

" Em, not until the wedding is over..." Ron reminded and Harry frowned.

" Voldemort is out there, killing people and you worry because of some wedding?!"

" Yes. I don't want them to kill me even before we're off..." Ron shrugged and Hermione smirked.

" What wedding?" Kakashi asked, reading his book once again.

" Oh, Fleur and Bill are getting married.." Hermione sighed and then forced a smile, that didn't reach her eyes. " It's probably the only good thing, that's happening right now."

" HEY! What about our arrival?" Naruto pouted playfully, which Hermione laughed at.

" Well, I think...nooo, the wedding beats that..."

" HEY!"

* * *

_" Shht, I hear something..."_ Sasuke pulled Naruto by the collar to hide him in the bushes.

_" Insane...at least warn me the next time..."_

_" SHUT UP! Look, over there..."_

Naruto turned to the gate in the garden and saw Harry there, shaking and Ron and Hermione beside him.

" Harry, come back in the house," Hermione whispered. "You aren't still thinking of leaving? Without us...without them...you need all of us..."

"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate," said Ron, thumping Harry on the back.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to look into Harry's face. "You look awful!"

"Well," said Harry shakily, "I probably look better than Ollivander. . . . "

Naruto's brows furrowed.

_" What's that supposed to mean? Who's Olive?"_

_" Ollivander...I don't know..."_ Sasuke whispered and returned to the conversation of the wizards.

" He was there...Vol-...oh, stop it, Ron, fine! You-know-who was there with him...he has him as a hostage. Our wands...I mean...he obviously hasn't been with his wand last night, when mine acted by itself. And he thinks, that Ollivander has tried to lie to him in order to help me. But that's not the point...he already kidnaps people because of me...because of me..''

When he had finished telling them what he had seen, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified.

"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar—it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again—Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"

When he did not reply, she gripped his arm.

"Harry, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!"

Sasuke turned to face a confused Naruto.

_" What was all that about?"_

_" Harry has seen something Voldemort was doing at the moment..."_ Sasuke whispered more like to himself, ignoring the blonde knucklehead._ " But...how? Hermione mentioned the scar...that must be it...he got the scar when Voldemort was trying to kill him, right? Yeah, that's it...the scar...it has something to do with all of this..."_

_" What? How can a scar have anything to do with the whole situation?"_ Naruto stood up after Sasuke, who turned to him with a blank expression.

_" How can a seal on your stomach have anything to do with your whole situaton?...It's the same..."_

* * *

**Weeell, that's it for today :D**

**I am trying to follow the plot of the book, so don't judge me for not starting with the wandering around forests and mountains yet...we have a wedding to plan first :D**

**Please, review, even if it a one word review, just let me know what you think! :)**

**And now, good night from me, because I'm barely keeping my eyes open! **

**xox**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

The shinobi weren't really needed for the preparation of the wedding. Now, that the whole family of Fleur and all the Weasleys were gathered, there was barely any space in the rooms, though. Kakashi regretted, that Yamato wasn't with them. If he were he could have done something about the size of the Burrow. However, they didn't spend much time there anyway. They were spending their days out, on the hills, training and discussing what was going on.

They were invited to the birthday of Harry, of course, which was a little get-together of some of the members of the Order. They weren't much people, but all of them were dear to the boy and truth to be told, even the shinobi had fun there. Well, until the Minister of Magic appeared and took the trio with him. He didn't allow the shinobi to come in with them, but he didn't know, that they were hearing every single word and that the leader of the group was barely able to stop Naruto from entering and killing the politician.

However, when he was gone, the kids revealed, that they had received some stuff from Professor Dumbledore. Hermione had a book with tales, Ron had a really cool thingy, that collected the light from the lamps around and Harry got a really beautiful, small, golden ball, which the shinobi new was a snitch. However, it wasn't much and Naruto fumed, as he understood, that harry was supposed to receive also some famous sword of Gryffindor.

But now, they were all standing at the main gate. harry was looking like a fat boy from a nearby village, since he has drunk some potion, that made him look like that_ 'muggle'_. He couldn't let people see him now, that he was being hunted by the Dark Lord. So there they were, Ron, Harry, Fred and Gerorge, Naruto and Sasuke, waiting for the first guests to arrive. Sakura and Hinata were somewhere with Hermione, Ginny and the bride and Kakashi was helping Molly Weasley with the last preparations.

" There they come!" Fred said all of a sudden and narrowed his eyes at the people that were approaching the Burrow. " Oh my, are those..."

" Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins," said George, craning his neck for a better look. "They'll need help understanding our English customs, I'll  
look after them. . . . "

"Not so fast, Your Holeyness," said Fred, and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading the procession, he said, "Here—permettez-moi to assiter vous," to a pair of pretty French girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside. George was left to deal with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr. Weasley's old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Harry's lot.

Naruto and Sasuke were engaged with some old grannies, that were constantly repeating how beautiful they were.

_" I suggest we kill them..."_ Sasuke muttered darkly after he got rid of the granny.

_" For the first time, teme...I don't mind..."_ Naruto said and looked at the stupid robe he was wearing. _" That's awful...If it were orange it...nah, it'd still be shit."_

But the raven haired guy wasn't looking at him anymore, since he saw the girls entering.

"_ Oi, teme, listen to me!_" Naruto said, but Sasuke pulled him so that he would face the girls. _" Oh...OH!"_

The sight was too beautiful to be true. Hermione was hurrying towards them with Sakura, ginny and Hinata. They quickly gathered the looks of the people on them, which both kunoichi ignored. They were looking straight forward at the other two shinobi, who were wearing dark robes, reaching the ground. As they were only a few meters away from each other, though, a couple of veelas attacked the dreamy Sasuke, who fell to the ground with the girls on top of him.

" Oh, who might you be, pretty boy?"

" My prince Charming, of course!"

" Go away, girls, he obviously prefers me...What's your name, handsome?"

Naruto's gaze shifted to Sakura, who had a vein pulsing on her forehead, making her look creepy.

_" Eh, S-Sakura-chan..."_

_" Tch!" _the rosette clenched her fists and in a matter of seconds was holding the four villas up in the air, looking at them with a creepy smile. " you better fuck off before I rip your empty heads off!"

The veelas were unable to say anything, to do anything, when they were facing such a tremendous...

" Monster!" one of the french girls shrieked, as she was returned to the ground. They all ran away, not even daring to look back at the Uchiha guy. Sakura shot him a glare.

" Tch. So even in France..."

" It's not like I can do anything about it..." the boy said as he stood up and received yet another deathly glare from his girlfriend. " Besides, I don't care about the other girls..."

" I don't care!" she said and frowned at the opposite direction. Sasuke sighed.

" You look stunning!"

" Hm. Thanks..."

" Let's dance..."

" No...AAH! Let me go! And then they call me a monster?!"

Naruto and Hinata laughed, while Hermione and Ginny were already talking with Ron and a redhaired boy, which was the transformed Harry.

" I saw her, I swear!" the redheaded girl said, looking around the crowd. " But, of course, she was surrounded by curious people, who were really interested in what nergles were...they were probably only mocking her"

" Who are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

" Luna Lovegood" Ron said with a sarcastic tone, while the image of the dirty blonde haired girl appeared in the minds of the shinobi. Hermione rolled her eyes. " however, you...you look great!"

" Always the tone of surprise," said Hermione, though she smiled. She was wearing a floaty, lilac-colored dress with matching high heels; her hair was sleek and shiny. "Your Great—Aunt Muriel doesn't agree, I just met her upstairs while she was giving Fleur the tiara. She says, 'Oh dear, is this the Muggle-born?' and then, 'Bad posture and skinny ankles."'

_"_ Don't take it personally, she's rude to everyone," said Ron.

" Talking about Muriel?" inquired George, reemerging from the marquee with Fred. "Yeah, she just told me my ears are lopsided. Old bat."

" You look vunderful!'' a new voice said and everybody turned to face a big, muscular guy with a scary expression, but a kind smile.

" Viktor!" she shrieked, and dropped her small beaded bag, which made a loud thump quite disproportionate with its size. As she scrambled, blushing, to pick it up, she said, " I-it's lovely to see - goodness - how are you again?"

" Who invited you?" Ron asked with a grumpy expression and a hue of hatred in his voice.

" Fleur." the big guy raise his eyebrows. As the wizards continued talking and Harry took Krum away, Hinata turned to Naruto.

" W-wanna dance, N-Naruto-kun?"

" And you ask?" he laughed and took her hand, dragging her to the dance floor and smiled sheepishly. " But if I step on your feet, you'll have to excuse me."

* * *

The party was simply getting hotter and hotter, until Kakashi couldn't take it anymore and set off to find his team. He spotted Sasuke and Sakura in a corner of the tent, being quite intimate. The shinobi frowned and looked around, ready to annoy Naruto, who, to his utter surprise was snarling at a big guy. He hurried to the blonde, who was hardly being held by Hinata.

" Now, now...what's going on here?"

" Nothin'!" the big guy in front of Naruto answered way too quickly. kakashi, however sighed and looked at his student.

" Naruto?"

" One more jerk, who's hitting on Hinata!"

" Ah..." Kakashi sighed and looked back at the tough guy. "...if you'll excuse him for this behavior I'd be glad...However, try flirting with the girl one more time and I cannot assure you, that you will get off with it with four limbs or a head on its place..."

The guy frowned and looked back at Naruto.

" Do you know who I am?!"

" Of course they don't know who you are..." a chubby redheaded boy, who was supposed to be Harry approached. " They're not wizards.."

" Non-vizards...you mean...muggles?" the guy pouted and the boy shook his head.

" No, Vistor, hasn't Fleure told you? They are the shinobi who protected Hogwarts two years ago and helped u- harry Potter in the Ministry."

" Ah, I've heard about this from some people in Durmstrang. So you're some really poverfull gang, huh?"

" Well, yeah, they are..." Harry chuckled nervously. " And you should know, that Victor Krum, here, is one of the most famous Quidditch Players...he's in the team of the Bulgarians."

" So you are flying on a broom...tch, how manly.."

" Enough, Naruto!" Hinata said with a blush and caught the arm of the boy, dragging him back to the dancefloor. Kakashi sweatdropped.

" Once again, I'm sorry about this..."

" You don't have to be..." the quidditch player said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, " Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?"

" Miserable love-life..." Kakashi looked at him questioningly and he kinda nodded. The shinobi smirked and patted the guy's shoulder. " I can lent you a book to read. Really amazing one...should make you feel better!"

" Kakashi...are you talking about...that book?" Harry asked with a disgusted expression on the features of the muggle boy.

" I don't know what you've heard from the brats, but the Icha-Icha books are pretty much amazing.

" It wasn't any of them...It was Dumbledore..."

Krum choked with his drink.

" Dumbledore?"

" Er, yeah...two years ago, when the shinobi were in Hogwarts I got detention once and eeeh...Dumbledore made me read a book."

" He didn't seem like a person, who was giving away detentions." Krum furrowed his brows and all Harry did was shrug, hoping that the bulgarian won't suspect anything.

" Look, I have to go take care of the old people over there...so I have to go..." Harry smiled, but Krum completely ignored him. Kakashi waved friendly and then looked around again. he really was bored. There were girls hitting on him, but he ignored them. What was the point in engaging himself with a non-shinobi-girl. That would be stupid. Wait, what was the point in engaging with any girl? Kakashi shook his head fiercely. No, that was the way that only total loners were thinking!

He took off, looking at the weird people. Hermione and Ron were dancing, as well as Ginny and some cousin of the Weasleys. Fred and George were trying to impress some giggling frech girls. Sasuke and Sakura were still in that corner, while Hinata and Naruto were on the ground, laughing hard. He suspected, that they've fallen while dancing. There was, of course, something he could do. He reached to his haori, which was hidden under the robe and opened it.

" What's going on?!" a person asked behind him and he turned to face Lupin and Tonks, who were looking at him kinda scared.

" Nothing, why?" Kakashi asked and they looked at him confused.

" You're taking your knives out...why, is something wrong? Should we evacuate the people?"

Kakashi laughed and scratched the back of his head.

" No, no...just wanted to read a little.." he took out the book and waved it in front of Lupin's relieved face.

" Oh, thank goodne-" he narrowed his eyes at something at the dance floor.

" What's that, Remus?"

" It's a...it's a..."

" A Patronus!" somebody screamed and suddenly everybody was watching at the silver light, that took the form of a lynx. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance.

Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

" The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

* * *

Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed. Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.

"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"

As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides—

" There you are!" a masked figure caught both of them and they didn't even bother to scream, since they immediately recognized Kakashi. His headband was gone from his left eye, revealing the same red orb as Sasuke's. It was spinning madly, looking around. " Aha...let's go!"

The only think Harry heard was the wind, and then he was at the back of the house. Sasuke and Naruto were there with Hinata and Sakura, who was dragging Ronald.

" Ron!" Harmione got out of Kakashi's arms and hugged him.

" We don't have time for that!" Sasuke hissed and looked around with his red eyes. " They're coming!"

" Quick! Take each others hands!" hermione said quickly and stood up, taking Harry's and Ron's hands. Harry grabbed Kakashi, who was holding Hinata. And Ron caught Sasuke, who grunted, he was being held by Sakura, and she-by Naruto. They were forming a chain and they saw a man with a black cloak just standing in front of them Naruto smirked and kicked him, while the image was getting blurrier, until they reached the already known sensation, where the wind was all they could hear and the spinning was all they could feel. Of course. Apparating. They never expected young wizards like them to know that, though. However, the first thing they felt, when they opened their eyes again, was a crowd. They were surrounded by people and the feeling, that they were still at the wedding was really awful. At first...but then they realized it was a road and that it was full with normal muggles, who were looking at them with funny smirks.

" Where are we?" Ron asked and Hermione bit her lip.

" Tottenham Court Road," she panted. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."

They were almost running through the crowd. the shinobi weren't to be seen by the normal eyes. they were moving really quick in the shadows, pushing themselves from the walls of the nearby buildings.

" Don't worry...we're here." Naruto's voice reached them and the Trio continued on walking, until they reached a side street.

" Hermione, we can't change!" ron whined. " Besides, Harry doesn't bring his invisibility cloak."

As the boy finished, the shinobi appeared next to them.

" What the hell happened?!" Sakura looked around cautiously, as if waiting for somebody to show up and attack them.

" Wait a second, Sakura...They have to change first!"

" How the ruddy hell are we going to change if we have no clothes?!" Ron snapped at her and Hermione glared back.

" I know you're nervous, but you don't have to take it out on me!" she growled at him and raised her little handbag, taking out a pair of jeans, a sweater and socks and finally, a silvery cloak, that Harry immediately recognized."Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here...I even took your stuff, i hope you don't mind..." She looked at the amazed ninja and then gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject. . . . Oh well. . . . Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change. . . . "

" I...I can't change in front of three girls!" his ears were already red, as he pointed at the kunoichi and Hermione, herself. She kanded a hit on his shoulder and he frowned.

" We're in grave danger, you shithead! You better not whine about such stupid stuff!" she snarled and he looked at her with widened eyes.

" Who's taking it out on who, now?!"

" Stop it, you two!" Hinata interfered. " We won't watch, Ron...don't worry...besides, Sasuke and Naruto wouldn't let us."

As the poeple turned around, so that Ron could have some privacy, Kakashi rubbed his temple.

" When did you prepare all this, Hermione?" he asked.

" In the Burrow...I had this weird feeling, so I packed everything essential."

" You really are an amazing witch..." the sensei smiled and she pursed her lips.

" I'm ready!" Ron called and the others turned around.

" The others-everybody at the wedding..." Harry said, while hanging the cloak on his shoulders.

"Don't worry about them now!" Sakura said and tightened her fist. " They're after you, right?"

" Let's go sit somewhere and discuss what's happening here..." the witch said with a sigh. "They shouldn't be able to find us here, right?"

" Yeah, that would be best..." Naruto nodded with a serious expression. " You better give us a pretty damn good explanation for what's going on here..."

* * *

**Mmmwelll, there you go, chapter 4!**

**We finally reached the wandering, woooo!**

**I am sorry, that I united like, four chapters of the book in only one in here, but, oh well, I guess that's good :D I simply can't wait to start writing the real stuff :D**

**However, if you liked this, please review!**

**If you have any wishes or ideas, feel free to PM me! :) I'd gladly consider what you have to tell me!**

**Well, that's it for today, until next time, lovelies!**

**xox**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

" So Voldemort is really after you...And he has the ministry under his command also, now.." Naruto tried to summarize all the info and then shook his head. " Why is that bastard even after you? Do you have some incredible powers or something...I'm sorry, but if I were him, I'd go after Hermione. She seemed to be the best witch at Hogwarts back then..."

The girl immediately flushed and looked away, but Harry shook his head.

" He's not after me because of powers, because, as you said, there are far greater wizards than me. Do you remember the fight in the Ministry? Well, it was because of a prophesy. And when I heard it...it turned out, that it was destined for me and Voldemort to always fight. Only one of us can live."

" So there are two possibilities." Kakashi muttered. " You kill him or he kills you."

" Exactly." the boy nodded miserably. " That's why Dumbledore entrusted this task to me. To destroy Voldemort's horcruxes. And then, to kill him."

" It won't be easy, will it?" Sakura sighed after a while and thanked the waitress, that just brought her coffee, that she didn't really intend on drinking.

Two men entered the cafeteria and sat on a table nearby. Of course, the shinobi and the Trio lowered their voices immediately.

" No, I'm afraid it won't. One of the horcruxes was so protected, that it was probably the main reason for Dumbledore's death. "

" I thought, that Snape killed him..." Hinata asked and Ron nodded.

" Yeah,it was him, but Harry was saying, that...oh, you tell them..."

" He had to drink a potion , which weakened him a lot." the boy explained quickly and clenched his fist. " And it turned out, that the horcrux was a fake. All this for nothing..."

" It wasn't nothing!" Hermione argued. " We have a clue now! And actually, that medallion might have been already destroyed!"

" But it may still be out there!" Ron argued with her and she stared at him as if she was planning on killing him.

" But, R.A.B. may have already destroyed it! Like it says in the goddamn note!''

" Who is R.A.B.?" Sasuke interrupted and the three wizards blushed in embarrassment.

" We don't actually know. I'll show you all the note later..You can maybe scan fingerprints or something?" Harry asked hopefully and Hinata chuckled darkly.

" We're not the CID, sorry...Maybe we could have followed the scent if Kiba were here, but...sorry.."

The wizard frowned for a second, but then Naruto's voice caught his attention once again.

" What about that scar of yours? So it isn't just a cut?"

" Eh, no...it has appeared, when Voldemort has tried killing me seventeen years ago. That's when it was found out, that I was the boy from the prophesy. However, sometimes, when he's angry, or happy, or sad...I can see what's happening around him. I...I somehow connect with him."

" That's dangerous!" Sasuke said all of a sudden. " He might want to use that connection to fool you!"

" We already know that..." Hermione said and smiled weakly, kind of creepy at Harry. " That's why he's trying to stop this, right?"

Harry looked away and Naruto chuckled. It was so obvious that this connection didn't bother the boy. Actually, the blonde shinobi even thought, that the boy enjoyed it, or maybe simply found it useful. However, it wouldn't be wise to say this in front of Hermione.

Harry looked away. Tch, that girl didn't understand anything! The connection between his and Voldemort's mind was coming in handy very often and Harry wanted to tell her, that because of this same connection, Arthur Weasley was alive, but then again...She'd remind him, that because of this connection Sirius was dead. However, something caught his men on the table were making a movement, so familiar to Harry, that he even mimicked it, because he wanted to stop what was going to come.

" PROTEGO!" the boy screamed just in time to stop the curses of the men. In an instant, the shinobi were up, dodging the hexes and jinxes, that were aiming at them.

_" Too close..."_ Naruto hissed as he dodged a light with his kunai. He jumped, while the man was looking away incredulously, and punched him with a chakra-filled fist. The other man was looking at the three wizards, aiming at them again, but just as he was about to yell out the magic, a hand hit him between his collar and shoulder, making him fall to the ground, unconscious. Sasuke was standing behind him, looking as unamused as always...

" What was that?!" Ron asked all of a sudden, as Hinata let go of him. Sakura pulled Hermione and Harry from under the table and frowned.

" Who were these?"

Harry dared to make a step forward, since Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi were there and if any of the men tried to stand up, they were going to stop him again.

" I know that one! It's Dolohov!" the boy gasped and froze in the middle of his way there.

" Who is he?" Kakashi asked and poked the knocked out man.

" A Death-Eater..." Harry muttered.

" It doesn't matter who they are!" Hermione hissed from the behind. " It's more important how they found us! It's...could it be that you are still baring the Trace. Harry?"

" That's impossible and you know it, Hermione..." Ron hurried to stop her and Kakashi used the silence to turn to Harry.

" Should we kill them?''

The boy trembled , that's why Sakura interfered.

" You can go out if you want, we'll take care of it..."

" N-no..." the boy said after a sigh. " We won't kill them."

Hermione closed her eyes and a pleasant smile spread across her lips...she seemed relieved. And Ron pouted.

" Why not? They would hav killed us if they had the chance to!"

" We're not turning into them..." Harry said a bit harsh. " But we'll erase their memory. Do you know how to do this, Hermione?"

" I-I haven't actually done this before, but I know the basics..."

" We can do it." Sasuke interrupted, but Harry shook his head.

" No, Hermione will do it. You've done enough for us today. Rest a bit..."

" That's an insult to all the shinobi population in this world!" Naruto snapped at Harry, who looked at him confused. " We aren't tired...Oh, you only wait till you come in our home sometime...if you think what we've done today is much, well, you'll see that's just a part of the heat up for the daily routines!"

" You're getting too excited, Naruto..." Hinata smiled. " Hermione will do it. Consider it as a training for her. She will gain experience."

Naruto seemed to calm down and turned to the witch with a grin.

" You better do this properly! Aim for the tooop..."

" Shut up, dobe, and let the girl work."

Hermione inhaled nervously and pointed her wand at one of the Death-Eaters' forehead. She exhaled and closed her eyes, before saying out loud:

_" Obliviate!"_

His eyes opened and started rolling in a creepy manner.

" Perfect, Hermione!" Harry cheered and turned around. As he noticed the wall , though, he frowned. " With only a few spells? Jeez, they destroyed the cafeteria!"

" What about the waitress?" Ron asked and Hinata twitched. She closed her eyes and concentrated her chakra.

_" Byakugan!"_ the veins around her eyes weren't uncommon for the wizards. She looked at the back and noticed the girl was cleaning a table, while listening to music. " She's oblivious to what's happened...Just fix the stuff here and we'll get out of here..."

" B-But we have to pay!" Hermione insisted as she walked away from the two guys on the floor and raised her wand against the wall. _" Reparo!"_

All the pieces started fixing up again, something really incredible for the shinobi. They didn't have a spell like that one. If they had broken a wall, they'd ask Yamato to fix it up for them. But the way the pieces flew to the exact place they have been before and the way, the wall seemed to be unharmed after Hermione's spell amused them.

" Now, let's get out of here..." Naruto said after he moved the two still unconscious guys to the chairs of their table. Hermione left some muggle money on the table and caught her friends' hands.

" Hold on tight!" she smiled. " I think of a place where we can go!"

* * *

" Lupin said it was dangerous here!" Sakura twisted her arms in front of her chest, as she saw the door of Grimmauld Place in front of them.

" Look, it's because of the Fidelius Charm...After Dumbledore died, everybody who knew about this place, became the secret's keeper. That means, you too! So Lupin and Moody feared, that there might have been a traitor within our range, that might have told the Death-Eaters...But I don't believe there was somebody in the Order that cruel."

" What about Mundungus?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

" Huh, no..." Ron said while looking around. " Dung might be dense, but he wouldn't reveal our secrets."

" However, let's get inside..." Hermione said, but Kakashi stopped her. He turned to Hinata with a smile and the girl nodded.

_" Byakugan!"_

The wizards observed how she was looking at the house. And the shinobi were simply waiting for her to end.

" Well?" Naruto was the only impatient one. Hinata deactivated her Kekkei Genkai and turned to Kakashi.

" I saw no people, but there is a very little amount of magic on the first floor."

" Wait...WHAT?!" Harry asked all of a sudden. " You can _see_ magic?!"

" We explained this last time, didn't we?" Kakashi smiled. " Your magic is like our chakra but in much smaller amounts. So since Hinata can see chakra thanks to her eyes, she can see your magic, too..."

" And she said there was some magic on the first floor, but no people...It may be a trap!" Sakura twisted her arms again and looked at the door. " Hey! I know! Naruto! Send a clone!"

" Don't boss me around, Sakura-chan!" the boy said with a pout but formed a seal, whatsoever. _" Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

An identical being appeared next to the real Naruto in a puff of smoke and headed towards the door.

" Hey, wait a second!" Hermione said loudly and all the shinobi, including the clone turned to her. " I remembered something!"

" What is it?"

" Lupin told us...about those jinxes Mad Eye put against Snape! That should be the magic Hinata saw!"

" Oh, right!" Ron agreed and turned to Harry.

" You're probably right. But let's leave the clone first, OK? Just in case..."

" I like the way you're thinking..." Sakura patted the boy's shoulder and looked at the door, that Naruto-the-clone was just opening. He left it wide open, so that they could see what was happening. The clone moved forward, reached the end of the hallway and turned back to the door.

" Are you sure there was magic...here?"

" Absolutely..." Hinata nodded with furrowed brows. " B-but maybe it activates if only Snape comes..."

" Yeah...let's go..."

They all moved forward and the clone vanished, after Naruto made another seal. As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Harry remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.

'' I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.

'' That could've happened as the Order left," Ron murmured back.

Yet, they didn't dare to move, until Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

" Well, we can't stay here forever, right? Let's go!"

He took a step forward, followed by all he kids.

" Severus Snape?" Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of the wizards jump back in fright, while the shinobi drew out their weapons.

"We're not Snape!" croaked Harry, before something whooshed over him like cold air and his tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before he had time to feel inside his mouth, however,  
his tongue had unraveled again. The others seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation.  
Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered, Hinata and Sakura were holding their mouths, Sasuke was looking displeased and Naruto was biting his tongue, as if to check if it were there. And Kakashi had a mask on, a total mystery...

"That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"

Gingerly Harry took another step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-colored, and terrible; The shinobi threw kunai-knives at it, but they went right through it. Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets: Horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Harry. Kakashi stood up in front of him, making a series of seals. He pressed his palms against the floor and a wall of earth appeared in front of the dust figure...However, it went through it, as if it were a ghost. And then Sasuke raised his arm to his mouth and breathed out a huge fireball...but that didn't seem to have stopped the dust figure, which caused Hermione to scream, before Sakura and Hinata stood up in front of her with raised arms. Sasuke and Naruto exchanged an annoyed glance, before standing up in front of Ron, who was silently shaking.

"No!" Harry shouted, and though he had raised his wand no spell occurred to him. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you—"

On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust. he expected the dust to hit him, but that never came. He dared to open his eyes and saw another wall, closer than the previous one. kakashi was standing on his knee with hands pressed to the floor with an annoyed expression on his face.

" That Mad Eye..." Ron panted, as he helped Hermione stand up from the floor. She, to everybody's amazement, was almost crying.

" That was...wasn't it..."

" Yeah..." Harry sighed as he looked, how the wall was disappearing back in the ground, revealing a pile of dust on the carpet. " But it wasn't really him, right...Something to scare Snape..."

" You mean...that thing was supposed to be Dumbledore-sama?" Sakura furrowed her brows. " It really did resemble him...a bit..."

" Hinata, are you sure there isn't anybody else in here?" Harry turned to the Hyuga and she nodded nervously.

" I'll check too...just in case..." Hermione said with a frown and raised her wand above her head. _" Homenum Revelio!"_

Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.

" So?" Ron raised his eyebrows.

" It's only us in here..." she said, but Naruto corrected her.

" Us and old Dusty..."

" Let's go upstairs!" Hermione hurried to say, looking frightened at the patch on the floor, where the figure has come out from. Once they were upstairs, Ron rushed over to the window.

" There's nobody out there...And you'd have thought, that if Harry still had the Trace they would have followed us..."

But he didn't get to finish, since Harry crumbled on the ground and cried out in pain. In a matter of seconds, everybody was around him.

" What did you see?" Ron asked, advancing on Harry. "Did you see him at my place?"

" No, I just felt anger—he's really angry—"

" But that could be at the Burrow," said Ron loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"

" Stop, Ron..." Sakura said calmly and pushed Ron out of the way. " Harry...are you all right? Do you need treatment?"

" N-no...I'm fine." Harry said, trying to resist the throbbing in his forehead. Sakura looked at him skeptically, but stood up.

" If you want me to help,I'm here..."

" AAH!" Hermione shrieked and everybody turned just in time to see how a silver Patronus was soaring through  
the drawing room window and land upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into the weasel that spoke with the voice of Ron's father.

" Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched."

The Patronus dissolved into nothingness. Ron let out a noise between a whimper and a groan and dropped onto the sofa: Hermione joined him, gripping his arm.

" They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.

" That's good to know..." Kakashi sighed and looked around, observing the room in silence. However, something in Harry's expression worried him.

" I-I'll go to the bathroom..." the boy said with a weak voice and the others probably thought, that he was simply shocked because of everything, but Kakashi wasn't stupid. Once the boy got out of the room, he turned to Sakura and Sasuke.

_" Go after him!''_ Kakashi said. _" He's not alright..."_

The two shinobi dashed out of the room, after the boy. He slammed the door, just before they reached him, but they heard him fall to the ground with a moan. Sakura looked at Sasuke, who pursed his lips.

_" Let's go..."_

_" You go first..."_ Sakura said with a blush and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

_" Y-Yeah, it would be better if I did..."_ he opened the door and entered the room...Sakura saw how he froze for a second and then he turned to her._ " Come..."_

She entered and saw a struggling Harry on the ground, as if he were tortured.

_" What the-"_

She kneeled next to him and picked his head on her knees. The boy pouted and opened his eyes with a heavy sigh. he was utterly amazed to see the two faces in front of him.

" W-What are you doing here?"

" What happened? Did you see anything?" Sasuke asked in his cold voice and Harry looked away. " There's no point in lying, I'll find out anyway!"

" N-no..."

" Tch!"

Harry looked at Sasuke and the last thing he saw before fainting, was a pair of red orbs, staring into him, as if reading his soul.

* * *

**I am so so so sorry for the delay, but, hey, the chapter is longer :D**

**Please _review,_ because for the last chapter I got NOTHING! e.e **

**However, I hope I am not disappointing you with this, so...if there is anything that you don't like, please tell me! **

**Bye! xox**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

Naruto sighed annoyed. Why did he have to be up all night? It wasn't like they were in danger anyway. If any Death Eaters were about to break into the house, all the shinobi would hear them and act immediately. And even if they succeeded in entering, the dust Dumbledore would scare the living shit out of them. It was simply pointless, standing there, doing nothing, just observing the people, who were lying in the sleeping bags in the middle of the room. Hermione and Ron's hands were only inches away from each other, since they've been holding hands before falling asleep. Sakura was twisted around Sasuke, who, for the first time in his whole existence, seemed almost harmless. Almost. And then there was Harry, who was talking some weird stuff in his dreams and Hinata, who was looking as peaceful and graceful and beautiful as ever.

Naruto sighed once again. He wanted to sleep, but only God knew, where Kakashi was and he feared, that if he even dared to close his eyes for a minute, his sensei would make sure to wake him up with a really unpleasant jutsu, One thousand years of death...and Naruto certainly didn't want that, because he'd experienced it and it was NOT cool...it was painful, but not as much as shameful...

That's why the blonde was sitting against the wall, looking around with blank eyes and was trying to find an attractive spot on the wall against him. no success till now. The sun was already up in the skies, but none of his friends seemed like they were even close to waking up. And his sensei was probably u[stairs in some more comfortable place. Naruto was already sick of the boredom, so he looked around and took the closest object to him. It was a piece of wood, which Naruto suspected has fallen from some of the weird decorations of the Black family house. He took it, narrowed his eyes and with accurate punctuality, learned from hours and hours of trainings, threw it at Sasuke. Of course, the little cube hit him, right in the nose, causing the Uchiha to open his eyes suddenly, which were red, to Naruto's surprise and misfortune. The raven haired guy in only a matter of nanoseconds managed to push the rosette off of him, to stand up and to draw out his sword. he looked around, but as he saw nothing else, than a grinning knuckleheaded ninja and a little wooden cube next to the sleeping bag, he hissed.

_" Oi, dobe...are you searching for your own tragic end?!"_

_" Good morning to you, too, teme..."_

_" I'm not kidding, you idiot?! What if you've hit Sakura?!"_

_" She'd probably hit me once or twice..."_

_" And then I'd kill you..."_ Sasuke hissed again, while deactivating his Sharingan and pressing his fingers against the side of his nose. There was a stream of blood, running down his lips and cheek, which he completely ignored. He wasn't in pain, he was only annoyed.

_" Come oon, I was bored, at least be a little supportive! You're supposed to be my best friend!"_

_" I am NOT your best friend. And I don't care that you're bored, you shithead! that's not a reason to wake me up...i swear, I'll kill you someday."_

_" Well, someday is not today...besides, you're awake now, so you could keep me company..."_

_" Hn...As if..."_

Naruto grunted, since waking up Sasuke was not much different, than waking up a rock. The other boy simply sat at the other corner of the room and looked at a spot above Naruto's head. The blonde sighed, since he understood, that his fun was over, well, at least until some other people woke up. He intended on throwing something at Sakura, but considering the fact, that her overly attached and crazy boyfriend was observing him, it would be a mistake. Eventually, Sasuke decided on speaking with him, to Naruto's utter surprise.

_" Did Kakashi tell you and Hinata?"_

_" About what?"_ the blonde sounded really enthusiastic, happy that the other one has started a conversation.

_" About the boy's weird vision from last night."_

Immediately, Naruto tensed. He stared at Sasuke and was about to start scolding him about not telling him earlier, but the raven haired guy obviously felt the intentions of the blonde, since he started speaking with his calm, irritating voice.

_" It is true, though I doubted it yesterday...what Hermione said. There really is a connection between the minds of that old geezer and Harry..."_

_" But what did harry see...?"_

_" That's not important...Just that slug Malfoy torturing one of these guys from the cafeteria on Voldemort's behalf." _

Naruto trembled. The way Sasuke said this was waaay too calm. But then again, the boy was probably used to it, since he has lived with Orochimaru for three years.

_" However, it's the connection that's troublesome. The boy sees these stuff through** his** eyes. It's like Harry **is** him. There should be something, because he feels pain in the scar before these visions. I also found out, that he can feel Voldemort's emotions, feelings. For example, when he's happy or angry, Harry feels pain in the scar. As I said, there should be something, because he got that scar when Voldemort tried to kill him years ago. You remember what Dumbledore told us when we first arrived at Hogwarts? i mean, when my group arrived, what he told us, you weren't there...However, he said that the spell backfired. That it destroyed Voldemort himself. Maybe there's something about this moment, because Voldemort has already started creating horcruxes by then. Maybe...maybe a part of Voldemort is in harry. That's why he can feel the Dark Lord's emotions and stuff..."_

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, who was looking as sure and arrogant as ever. He wondered how much time his friend has thought about this. It really made sense, but...

_" That's absurd."_ the boy said with power in his voice. _" That's simply impossible. If it were so, Dumbledore would have known and he would have done something about it."_

Sasuke's mouth twitched and then silence fell again. Naruto started playing with the edge of the ugly carpet, while Sasuke was staring at his sword, that was lying next to Sakura.

_" I know."_ he said after a while. " I thought about this, too...If it were true, Dumbledore would have known...but then again...the horcruxes are objects with parts of his soul, right? And Harry, Ron and Hermione are trying to **destroy** them. If I'm right, and a part of Voldemort lives in Harry, then...Dumbledore couldn't have done anything about it, because, well, because he'd have to destroy Harry to destroy the soul."

_" Are you trying to say, that Harry's a horcrux?"_ Naruto's brows flew up on his forehead and then he snorted._ " That's impossible, teme...Like, think about it this way, think about it as if it is a story. There's always a bad guy,"_ Naruto pointed at Sasuke, which he frowned at,_ " and then there's the good guy..."_ his fingers touched his own chest, to Sasuke's bewilderment. _" In our case, they are Voldemort and Harry. The bad guy has all the bad traits, he's ugly, check, mad, check, always fails, well, we still have time about that, and most of all, has all bad intentions, double-check. And then the good guy, the Potter boy, he has to be beautiful...who knows, maybe time will do it's magic...he is trying to think rational, in a way, that will help all people. In our case, well, kind of...and most of all, the good guys in stories, always are pure, perfect, not a single bad thing about them...it** has** to be a check. So, like I said, there's no way Harry has a part of him in himself."_

_" Hn. I won't bother to even dignify that with an answer, because it is simply ridiculous..."_ Sasuke said, as calm as ever._ " What you're talking about is a story, a tale...but as you see, that's not a fairy tale, it's reality, you dobe..."_

_" And since when are there ninjas and wizards in the reality?"_

_" Touche..." _Sasuke muttered after a while.

_" Both of you are sick..._" a feminine voice flew to them and they turned to face Sakura, who was staring at them from her sleeping bag, with hands twisted behind her head.

_" Good morning..._" Sasuke muttered in a way softer voice. Naruto was about to start bugging him, but the rosette interrupted them.

_" What the hell do you think you're doing this early?! You woke everybody up!"_

_" And by everybody, you mean only yourself."_ Naruto pouted, but twitched, as he heard another feminine voice.

_" G-Good morning, Naruto-kun."_

_" Hinata!"_ he said with a smile and immediately noticed the smirk on Sasuke's face. "_ Good morning, both of you..."_

_" Don't tell me that you really were thinking about something this ridiculous, Sasuke..."_ Sakura said,as if she was tired of hearing that._ " I told you yesterday, that it's impossible...with much better arguments than Naruto's, which, by the way, were pathetic..."_

_" Sakura-chaaan, you're cruel..."_

_" Why do you all have to be so loud-mouthed..."_ a new voice flew to them and four heads turned to face a masked man with messy silver hair and almost closed eyes. _" But I'll have to agree with Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke, it possibly isn't true, but nice guess, though..."_

Sasuke shrugged.

_" It's only a guess, I was just wondering."_

_" Sure, now all of you shut up, because it's too early!"_

_" Early?! It's almost eleven!"_

_" Exactly, Naruto..."_ Kakashi muttered and disappeared from the stairs.

_" That old geezer..."_ Naruto whispered and Hinata chuckled.

_" He's around his thirties, it's not that much..."_

_" Tch yeah, right..."_ Sasuke joined in and they started talking about some other stuff, not related with harry and Voldemort...

* * *

" WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WHERE'S HARRY' ?!" Hermione's voice raised and almost deafened Ron, who immediately covered his eyes. " You were with him last!"

" I..I don't know...hey, stop screaming, you mad woman...bloody hell..." Ron muttered, while the shinobi exchanged worried glances.

" D-Don't worry, he has to be somewhere in the house. H-H-He...Byakugan!"

Hinata looked up and after her eyes wandered around a little, she sighed relieved and her eyes returned to normal.

" He's upstairs...reading something, I believe..."

While she was speaking, Ron and Hermione ran up the stairs, screaming harry's name, until his response reached their ears.

" Should we...?''

" Yeah, definitely..." kakashi sighed and with concentrated chakra, reached the last floor of the house in three jumps. Before Ron was up, hermione turned around, pushed Kakashi a little and screamed.

" OVER HERE, RON! I FOUND HIM!"

Ron's annoyed voice echoed distantly from the floor below.

" Good! Tell him from me he's a git!"

" Harry don't just disappear, please, we were terrified! Why did you come up here anyway?" She tried to gaze around the ransacked room through the bodies of the shinobi. "What have you been doing?"

" Look what I've just found"

He held out a letter. Hermione took it out and read it while Harry watched her. Naaruto tried peeking, but Sakura hit his head and he started whining, until the girl reached the end of the page she looked up at her friend.

" Oh Harry . . . "

" And there's this too."

He handed her the torn photograph, and Hermione smiled at a baby zooming in and out of sight on the toy broom...Even Sakura smiled.

" I've been looking for the rest of the letter," Harry said, "but it's not here"

Hermione glanced around. So did the shinobi, but the first to talk was Kakashi.

" Did you make all this mess, or was some of it done when you got here?"

" Someone had searched before me," said Harry.

" U-um...every room is like this..." Hinata said in her low voice and Kakashi nodded.

" I thought so...''

" That doesn't matter right now, does it...it is just irritating not to know who it was." Harry shrugged and slipped past the shinobi, back in the hallway. " Let's go get something to eat..."

" Yeah...'oh man, I am starving!" Naruto explained and frowned. " No, that's no good...we have no ramen, do we?"

" Shut up, dobe...''

However, they stopped, as they bumped into Harry, who was standing in front of the door with a blank expression and frozen features.

" Harry?" Sakura asked with the usual concern of a medic on her face. " Are you alright?"

" H-huh? Aa, yeah, I...guess I'm fine...Hermione...can you come back for a second?"

" What's the matter?" she said and returned. harry didn't look back at her.

" R.A.B. I think i found him..."

" But there wasn't anything in that letter...oh, _oh_!" she gasped, as he pointed the door in front of him. Of course, all the shinobi looked up to the name plate. It said Regulus Arcturus Black.

" Who is he?" Naruto asked.

" Sirius's brother?" she whispered.

" He was a Death Eater," said Harry. "Sirius told me about him, he joined up when he was really young and then got cold feet and tried to leave—so they killed him."

" That fits!" gasped Hermione. "If he was a Death Eater he had access to Voldemort, and if he became disenchanted, then he would have wanted to bring Voldemort down!" she released Harry, leaned over the banister, and screamed, "Ron! RON! Get up here, quick!"

Ron appeared, panting, a minute later, his wand ready in his hand.

" What's up? If it's massive spiders again I want breakfast before I—" He frowned at the sign on Regulus's door, in which Hermione was silently  
pointing.

" What? That was Sirius's brother, wasn't it? Regulus Arcturus . . . Regulus . . . R.A.B.! The locket—you don't reckon—?"

" Excuse me, but who the hell is R.A.B.?" Naruto asked and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

" They said it yesterday, in the cafeteria, right? It was how a person has signed the note in the fake horcrux, that Harry and Dumbledore have found. And now that person is supposed to have the true horcrux."

" He may have destroyed it..." Hinata reminded quietly, but nobody was listening to her.

" Well? Do you think it was him? Sirius's brother?" Ron asked with a shaky voice, but Harry inhaled deeply and answered with a smirk. he placed his hand on the doorknob.

" Let's find out..."

" Before breakfast...oooh, come oooon!"

* * *

**I am so so so SO sorry for that HUGE delay, but I was grounded ( still am e.e) and was banned from sitting on the computer...tough time, big time...**

**If ou have any suggestions, please, feel free to share them :)**

**AND REVIEW! Please, i am disappointed in the amount of reviews , not that I'm whining and shit, but still...**

**However, have a nice night/day!**

**xox**

**Ooh, and I don't know when I'll be able to update again...grounded, remember :D**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7  
**_

" So last time we were here there was a locket?!" Naruto shrieked, when the elf in front of them confirmed. " Impossible, I-I-I don't remember it!"

" That's because you're an idiot." Sakura muttered and furrowed her brows. " Harry, can I...can we please see the fake locket, so that we could remember...?"

" Of course..." the boy said and drew out a golden necklace out of his pocket. Everybody looked at the serpentine S, inlaid with glittering, green stones: It was easy to visualize it as a minuscule snake. Suddenly, Sasuke shivered and backed off. Of course, everybody turned to him.

" I've seen this before."

" Well, of course you have, we just said it was here two years ago.." Naruto reminded and received a hit from Sakura.

" You're a complete and utter idiot...How stupid could you possibly be?! Sasuke and the others arrived later than us. They never came here!"

" Oh, blimey, you're right..."

None of the others listened to them, though, because Sasuke's expression was blank, but his eyes were wide.

" Sasuke..." Hermione tried to put her hand on his shoulder, but the boy glared at her and she stepped backwards, bumping into Ron.

" Where have you seen it then? Was it while we were at school?" Harry asked with hope in his voice.

" Why-...Why the hell would Voldemort put one of his horcruxes in Hogwarts, Harry? Dumbledore was there, remember? If there was a horcrux, he would have found it, so there's no way.."

" Your logic is good, Naruto..." Hermione interrupted him. "...but as Harry has told us before , if there was one place dear to Voldemort, it was Hogwarts...although I still doubt there is something like this in there..."

Hinata frowned, confused by the girl's words. Did she believe there could be or not be a horcrux in there, after all...

" All of you shut up..." Kakashi finally stood up, drawing the attention of everybody, even Kreachure, the house elf, who has seen this locket, the one because of which his master has died. After that, the sensei turned to the Uchiha. " Where have you seen it?"

" I've seen this thousands , no, millions of times...It...It was Orochimaru's locket. It was always with him, wherever he went."

" That snake bastard..." Naruto hissed and Ron tapped his shoulder.

" I know that feel, dude, believe me..."

" So you tell me, that Orochimaru owned that locket, which is a horcrux of Voldemort, who used to be his partner two years ago. And you tell me, that Voldemort hasn't seen this locket with his so-called-partner in the time they were working together?! Kind of weird..." Hinata muttered.

" It was with him everythwre..." Sasuke repeated, glaring at Hinata, as if she was trying to make him look like a liar. Kakashi stepped in to stop them from doing anything reckless.

" Are you sure it was the same locket? The absolutely same one?"

" One hundred percent sure..."

" I don't remember seing that locket with Orochimaru, when we were fighting..." Sakura mumbled, still with narrowed eyes.

" Wait a second, guys...just a second!" Harry said all of a sudden. " Isn't that Orochimaru creep dead?"

" Yes."

" So we can simply go and check his grave, right?"

" No."

" Perfe-...Wait, did you just say 'no'. "

" Yes." Kakashi confirmed and then sighed, remembering that the people in front of him weren't shinobi. " When one of our people dies, the body is turned to ashes, because otherwise, there is a possibility that there would be people who would go after the corpse to draw out the power and the secrets from it..."

" You can draw out power from a dead person? That's...disgusting...and in the same time astonishing..." Ron wrinkled his nose. " And secrets...what kind of secrets can a body hold?"

_" They're close enough to hear my little secret, right?"_ Naruto asked Kakashi and after a minute, he nodded briefly.

" Perfect...Look, everything has its own secrets. Each and every one of your bodies contains magic, right? Well, your magic is not identical...I think...that's how it is with us, shinobi. Every one of us has different chakra, with different affinities, different capacities, different special powers. That's what the bad people in our world are after. And Naruto just reminded me of an amazing example. Years ago, many many ears ago, before your magic even existed, before the world was in its currents state, there was one man, who put the beginning of everything in here. People refer to him as Rikudou-sennin. That was an almighty man, with powers same as the ones of a god. He created everything in our world. He created all the jutsus known to us, every one of them, the fire jutsus, the water, lightning, earth and wind ones. His powers were huge. And to even make it better, he had a ten-tailed...a ten-tailed...let's call it a pet."

" A ten-tailed pet?..."

" Yes. We call it the Juubi. It had an enormous amount of powers, even greater than the ones of Rikudou-sennin. Basically, this creature was the strongest thing in the world, and it belonged to that man, which made him that powerful. And the two of them became one. The chakra of that...pet...was mixed with Rikudou's...the pet was closed in him and they worked together. But the power of the Juubi was simply too much to handle, that's why Rikudou separated it in nine pieces, creating nine tailed beasts. There was a one-tailed beast, two-tailed beast, and so to a nine-tailed beast. These nine creatures contained the powers of the Juubi. The more tailes one beast had, the stronger it was..."

" That means, that the one-tailed beast was the weakest and the nine-tailed - the stongest, right?''

" Exactly, Hermione." Kakashi nodded. " But their power was far too great, far too big and people feared it. That's why after years of destruction, the shinobi started sealing these beasts into people, which we call Jinchuuriki."

" Jinchu-what?"

" Jinchuuriki. These people were vessels of the nine tailed beasts, they were keeping their powers, some of them even befriended the beasts and received their help in battles. And once the vessels were close to death, the beasts were sealed in new, young bodies. And so everything was going on and on...until this ceratin day, time, moment, second...there are still Jinchuuriki, not all of the beasts are here, though...the Akatsuki have captured seven of the beasts, and the only ones left are the eight-tailed and the nine-tailed beasts."

" So the two strongest ones?"

" Yes, Ron, obviously..." Hermione interrupted and turned to Kakashi. " But the Akatsuki are gone, right?"

" Yes."

" And why did they need that power?"

" I don't know the answer of that question." Kakashi sighed. " But whatever it was, it was something big, because they were after the eight-tailed and nine-tailed beast, too."

" The vessels of these two beasts should be extremely powerful, judging from what you've said..." Harry noted.

" Oh yes, they're pretty much the most powerful shinobi among us right now..." Kakashi nodded and Naruto shot him a glance with a smirk.

" Wow, people more powerful than you, Kakashi?"

" Oh yeah, far more powerful than me..."

" Wow, do you know any of these two people?"

" Yup...Both of them..."

" WOW! You know that powerful people...who...who are they?!"

" Well..." Kakashi closed his book and bore his eye at the excited faces of Harry, Ron and Hermione and then at the expression of Sakura, that showed that she was barely keeping her laughter in. " One of them is only a friend and the other one I happen to know very, very well...In fact, he's my student..."

" Really? You have thought a Jinchikiki...?!" Ron gasped. " Awesome!"

" Jinchuuriki." Kakashi corrected patiently and smirked. " You happen to know him, too..."

" What the..." Hermione looked at the young shinobi with widened eyes. " It's some of you...Sasuke, Sakura or Naruto...right?"

" Yes, that's right."

" Sasuke..." Harry and Ron said in the same time, which Naruto frowned at.

" Wait...what?!" he yelled. " Why'd you automatically think it was the teme...?!"

" Well look at you and then look at me...it's obvious..." Sasuke said with closed eyes and a hint of a smirk.

" What's that supposed to mean?!"

" Enough, boys!" Sakura gritted her teeth and turned to Hermione. " You got it, right?"

" Y-Yes." she nodded. " So you, Naruto, are one of these people with tailed beasts inside them? That's impressive...which...I mean what is it..."

" What beast is inside of me?" the blonde chuckled. " It's the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed beast..."

" So you're the most powerful ninja?"

" Well, he wishes...he's a knucklehead who isn't in complete control of his beast...basically, he's a loser." Sasuke muttered not loud enough for the wizards to hear him, while Kakashi cleared his throat.

" Well, when he completely merges with the Kyubi, yes, yes he will be the most powerful...but Naruto's still very young. There were Jinchuuriki who, until the day the beasts were extracted from them, haven't ever been able to use the powers of the ones in them."

" So you use the Kyubi's chakra?" Harry asked with furrowed brows, and Naruto nodded.

" Only when I need it. And happily, he happens to be kind sometimes and offers help himself...But it's quite often, unfortunately..."

" And how do people understand who are Jinchuuriki...?" Hermione asked all of a sudden, interrupting Naruto. " I mean, the people who are after them, how do they know who are the people they're searching for. I don't think that when somebody is used as a vessel, everybody is being told, right? That would be stupid..."

" Of course it's not told. The secret stays in the respective village of the one. It's just that...well, they're quite easy to recognize when they, well, go a little overboard and unknowingly let the beasts take control over their actions..."

" Does that happen often?" Ron asked with widened in fear eyes, when he looked at Naruto. The blonde looked down to his feet while sighing heavily. Hinata stroked his back and smiled friendly.

" No." Sakura stood up. " That happens only to people who don't know what they're doing. Naruto has control over his beast. Naruto has tamed the Kyubi. That's it. No more questions!"

" What was that about?!"

Sakura glanced at Hermione with the words written all over her face...'I'll tell you later, don't talk about this anymore!'

" I-...eerm, well, how did we actually get here from that locket?!" Hermione hurried to say.

" The secrets of one's body..." Kakashi reminded kindly and skipped the page of his book.

" Ah, right...well, a Jinchuuriki's body still hold part of the powers, it was just an example, but that's why bodies of shinobi get burned." Sasuke explained in a monotonous voice. " And that's why there isn't any grave of Orochimaru. His ashes are buried somewhere, in an unknown to us place. But there might be a possibility, that they've kept his stuff. Sakura, write to Tsunade. If the locket was with Orochimaru back then, it must be in Konoha now."

" Hai, Sasuke..." the girl nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

" Hinata, Naruto...why don't you go upstairs?" Kakashi asked after a while, offering the two teens the chance to stay alone for a while and Naruto to calm down a bit. He knew that making people fear him was the ill nerve of Naruto. his whole childhood he's spent alone, because people have feared him. That's why the girl nodded and almost dragged her boyfriend up the stairs. " Now, Kreacher, can you please tell me when you last saw the locket?"

" The locket's always been here. Always since...m-m-master Regulus..." the elf answered after a sob.

" That's impossible..." Sasuke crossed his hands on his chest. " That locket has been in Orochimaru for ages. Almost since I joined him. It's..."

" When did you, Sasuke, last see that locket?" Kakashi asked calmly.

" Well, I-...I-...I don't remember...a long time ago. I didn't actually pay much attention to Orochimaru, yet much to his_ accesories.._."

" So it's possible, that this locket has disappeared from Orochimaru two years ago..."

" Y-Yeah,I guess so. But how did that locket come from Orochimaru to that house?"

" I don't know that, but we'll understand, right?" Kakashi muttered and returned to his Icha-Icha Tectics. " Besides, we don't know whether the real or the fake locket has been with Orochimaru..."

" What?! Wait...Kreacher, when did the locket disappear from here?" Harry raised his voice and stood up from the couch. " And who took it? Do you know?"

'' Two weeks ago, master...And it was Mundungus...Mundungus Flecher..."

The three wizards glances at each other and muttered in a low voice, in chorus..

" Dung..."

" That staeling shortey!" Ron hissed. " I told you he was no good!"

However, despite Ron's words, Harry has leaned forward and was handing something to Kreachure.

" I want you to have this, because I am sure that after everything you've went through, Regulus would have wanted none other than you to have it, right? But before that, can I ask you for something? Can you, please, find Mundungus and bring him here?"

" Of course, master..."

" Thank you, Kreachur, there you go..."

When the elf looked down to its hands and when it saw what was lying on its long fingers, it started sobbing uncontrollably, collapsed on the floor and started crying.

" For Merlin's sake, Harry! What did you do?!" Hermione's shriek echoed around.

" Nothing!" the boy answered automatically. " I just gave him the fake locket of Regulus!"

The gaze of Hermione softened, Ron frowned and Kakashi returned calmly to his book. And Sasuke was the same. Nothing...

" Overkill, mate...overkill..." Ron muttered and proceeded to get out of the room, where the sobs of the elf were driving him crazy.

* * *

_" Even they...even they view me as a freak now, don't they?" _Naruto burried his face in his palms, while Hinata was trying to comfort him._ " It's always been like this. People have always thought of me as nothing else than a monster. Noone ever thinks of me, they only point at me and all they think of is 'Kyubi'..."_

_" T-That's not true, Naruto-kun!" _Hinata said helplessly and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her tiny hands around his middle._ " Who do you think I love, the Kyubi or you?...It's simply...ridiculous, Naruto-kun...Me, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun...everybody! We're your friends and for us you are Naruto...you shouldn't care what other people think of you..."_

_" I know you're right...but I really considered them my friends, too..."_

_" And I am sure they are!"_ the girl hurried to say._ " It's just that they aren't a part of our world. They don't know what it means to be a Jinchuuriki, they don't know that you are powerful enough to keep your little orange fox friend inside..."_

Naruto shivered and after a second, smiled.

_" He's not really happy that you called him my little orange fox friend...and he threatened that he'd kill all of you..."_

The boy sensed, how Hinata tensed and looked at him with apologetic eyes. No trace of fear.

_" G-G-Gomen! I am so sorry! I d-didn't m-m-mean to..."_

_" It's alright..." _Naruto laughed and hugged her back. "_ As if I'd let him harm the people I love most..."_

Hinata smirked shyly in his chest.

_" That's the Naruto-kun I know..."_

_" Yeah, your little orange monster..."_

And then he leaned in to kiss her. At least that was the same as always in this mess they were in right now...

* * *

**Hi, there, lovely people! I'm currently not at home, I'm on a vacation with my family, so I guess that excuses me somewhat...**

**I hope you liked this chapter, the mystery, though...**

**If you did, please, review!**

**Share what's on your mind! I'd gladly hear it :)**

**Also, a MASSIVE THANKS, for adding my story in 2 communities :)**

**I guess that's what I wanted to say, so...eerm, bye, until next time, lovelies! xox**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

It's been a few days and there was no trace of Kreachur. Everybody has thought, that after everything he's went through because of the horcrux, finding Dung would be like a child's game. Unfortunately, it didn't appear to be so.

" Stupid Mundungus..." Ron hissed one day. " Of course it won't be easy to find him, since he always hides from the people of the Ministry and the people he owes money!"

Harry and Hermione had to agree with his words, the ninja had to simply accept them and wait patiently. Another problem was food. They were running out of provisions and to their biggest annoyance and fear, there were a few hooded figures on the street in front of the hidden by the Fidelius charm house. Hermione was smart enough to figure that the Fidelius charm wasn't broken after Sirius' death. It simply had a lot of Keepers now...So they had to be extremely cautious. But the thing is, how the Death Eaters have found them.

Everything was running through their minds, when Sakura barged in the living room of Grimmauld place with a scroll in her hand.

" Finally! Tsunade-sama's reply!"

" Well that took long enough..." Naruto muttered ironically, but stood up from the floor, where he was playing ( and certainly losing) a play of chess with Sasuke, who followed his example. Hinata looked up to Sakura and Kakashi's eye showed a bit relaxation, relief...

" What does it say?"

" Tonight at eleven a squad will arrive with the belongings of Orochimaru and a few extra shinobi for the mission. She says, that now, that Voldemort controls everything and is after Harry, we'd need a little help."

" Finally some sense..." Naruto muttered. " I told you even before! When there was no threat for Harry we were fifteen of us and now we are only five..."

" Shut it, Naruto!" Kakashi muttered. " Where do we have to wait for them?"

" Oh, they'll be arriving here...directly...she has written..." Sakura opened the scroll to check something and her eyes drifted on the sheet. " Ah, there it is...Hiraishin no Jutsu."

" Hirai-what? Isn't that my father's technique?"

" It's not your father's." Kakashi interfered. " He was able to master it completely...the first one to master it completely, if I have to be clear...however, Genma will come for sure. And Raidō."

" How would you know that?"

" They are the only ones who can perform that jutsu in Konoha. Together..."

" So more of you will be coming?" Hermione asked with a smile. " I hope Ino comes! And Tenten!"

" Ergh...why would you want them to come? They are weak!"

" Shut up, Sasuke..." Ron said dreamily and the Uchiha was about to shove a kunai in the wizard's throat because of his nerve, but Sakura stopped him with a meaningful look. " They're both pretty...I mean, welcome to come!"

" Uh-uh...they have boyfriends. Kiba and Neji, remember? They happen to be very fond of 'em, you know...wouldn't interfere if I were you...or a wizard, whatsoever..." Kakashi stated while playing with a shuriken. The Weasley backed off in a sudden moment of realization, that he's said it out loud and then, his ears turned red, while Hermione looked away with a pout.

" So..." Hinata interfered loudly, trying to return to the previous topic. " We get reinforcements...why?"

" Because Tsunade thinks there's a threat. She believes, that once he's found partners in the ninja world, Voldemort might try to do it again." Sakura explained and rolled the scroll on her index finger. " That's all she says in the letter."

" Does she mention anything about the medallion in that...letter?" Harry asked kind of gloomily.

" Nope. Not a single word."

" Are you sure...let me have a look at that..." Kakashi extended his arm and received the scroll with a loud and angry thump.

" Fine. Find out, that there is nothing about it, since you don't trust me..."

Kakashi shook his head unbelievably. Sakura was always the one who was listening to his orders, the one who was following his commands without complaining. And for her current behavior, Sasuke was to blame. Since they got together, Sakura was slowly becoming more like the Uchiha, arrogant, insolent and ignorant. And Sasuke was certainly starting to behave like a person...sometimes. It was like they were draining the personality of the other person partly. However, Kakashi opened the scroll and read the words twice. It was obvious that Tsunade has been drunk when she has written this. There were also sake strains on the paper, that were making a few of the words blurry. Kakashi released some chakra, but nothing happened. No hidden text, nothing. Just an ordinary letter. Until his eyes fixated on one of the words in the letter. He had to re-read it a few times. Finally, he assumed the word was 'belonging', since it was one of those words, that were covered in sake. However, something else caught his attention. It was exactly those blurry words, which he mentally noted. Not, is, belonging, his, it. He didn't have to be a genius to order them in the right way.

It is not his belonging.

But why hadn't Tsunade used a more safe way to send the message? By telling the coming ninja, probably? Or using a seal? Kakashi didn't have to think about this, because, under his mask a smug smile rose and he turned to the rosette, who immediatelly deadpanned.

" There's something, isn't there?"

" Of course there is...Tsunade says the locket isn't Orochimaru's!"

" How...How would you figure that out if there isn't anything about the locket in the letter?" Sasuke frowned, when Kakashi handed him the scroll. After only thirty seconds, the boy's head snapped and he looked at Sakura disapprovingly. " And you couldn't decipher this?! Jeez, even TonTon can do this and he's a pig..."

" What the..." the rosette ripped the letter out of Sasuke's arms and started re-reading it. After a while her face's hue became red from embarrassment and she shoved the scroll in her haori. " Why hasn't she hidden it?"

" I was wondering the exact same thing..." Kakashi said.

" It's obvious, isn't it?"Sasuke sighed, as if he were talking to idiots. " It obviously isn't his belonging, since it is the real medallion and it belongs to Voldemort."

" There's some sense in that..." Naruto nodded, after reading the letter, that he has managed to steal from his comrade and was now handing to Hinata.

" Wait a second..." Hermione closed her eyes. " So the medallion in Orochimaru is the real medallion. The fake one that we had has always been fake, since Regulus Black replaced it...and what does that make the medallion that was here two years ago and now is in Mundungus Fletcher?...which one is it...it can't be the fake one, since Kreachur has it right now and it can't be the real one, since it's in Orochimaru...don't tell me..."

" There's a third locket..." Harry gasped, finally realizing what his friend meant. " But...why would anybody make a second fake?"

The shinobi were looking at each other with annoyance on their faces. This was getting far too complicated.

" She better be sending Shikamaru!" Naruto groaned after a while and whether he wanted or not, Sasuke had to agree with the knucklehead. The Nara was the only one who could think of something in that messed up situation.

" Who told you the locket, that Orochimaru had was the real one?" Hinata asked after a few minutes with narrowed eyes. " T-The thing in him might be the second fake and the true locket might be with Mundungus Flecher."

" Tsunade has written that it's not his belonging...well, not written, more like showed, but...however, since it isn't his belonging, it should mean that it's Voldemort, which means the real locket-horcrux...right?"

" Wow, Sakura, so you actually do have brains..." Naruto imitated gasping in surprise and almost got hit in the nose by a super-Sakura-filled-with-extra-chakra-punch, but Kakashi stopped the girl only two centimeters from his face. The blonde exhaled relieved, when he noticed the sensei holding Sakura by her elbow.

" Hasn't changed _that_ much, thank goodness..." he was obviously muttering to himself, when he released Sakura's arm and thought that she'd be calmer, but she tricked him and after all landed the _special_ punch on Naruto's jaw, that made a creepy sound. Kakashi sighed. " Are you happy now? Have you utilized your anger?...Good, now heal him!"

The girl snorted, but placed her glowing hands on the boy's chin, very far from graceful. Naruto grinned, although there was blood streaming down from his mouth. Hinata sighed and looked at the trio, ready to hear what they had to say about this situation they were in now, but only found out, that they were staring at the bloody face of her boyfriend, that was currently being lightened by the green glow from Sakura's hands. The Hyuga sighed together with Sasuke. They were used to this. Sakura breaking Naruto's bones and fixing them if he hasn't already fixed by himself. They were too familiar with the scenario. Kakashi, however, was looking at the wall behind the wizards, obviously thinking.

One locket was in the elf and that one was the fake with the note from R.A.B. in it. The second locket was going to come to them that night, the Orochimaru-locket, that was probably the real horcrux. And the third locket, the one in the thief, that has been in this house after Regulus has made the exchange. So maybe it was the true locket. Or simply Orochimaru was a stealing bastard on top of everything, and has somehow managed to take the real locket from here and replace it with a fake. Not likely. Orochimaru could have been anything, but a thief...the only exception were eyes...and bodies of dead people...and...Kakashi stopped, because he felt like throwing up.

Another thing, that worried him, was whether they'd be able to make a difference between the Orochimaru-locket and the Mundungus-locket. Would any of the wizards be able to do that? And how would they...

" Hey!" Kakashi said all of a sudden. " How do you destroy horcruxes?!"

The shinobi stared at the wizards. Actually, the shinobi and the two male wizards stared into Hermione, who clanked on the table nervously.

" Well, I've read in books..."

" Of course..." Ron sighed and received a few glares.

" I've read, that it's impossibly hard to create a horcrux, that you need to kill to separate a part of your soul. And the only thing I've found about destruction is that it's extremely hard and almost impossible."

" Dammit..." Naruto muttered, since his jaw was as good as new. Hinata and Sakura frowned, Sasuke rolled his eyes because if they didn't know how to destroy them, that would mean searching for a way to, which was quite annoying in his opinion. But then again, everything was annoying in his opinion.

" BUT..." Hermione continued with a hesitant smile. " Harry destroyed the diary with a tooth of the Basilisk. Which means, that it's venom was strong enough to bring one of the horcruxes to an end, right?"

" Well, it almost brought me to an end, too, but whatever..." Harry muttered at the memory from five years ago, when he was barely healedby the tears of Dumbledore's phoenix...Dumbledore's... " WAIT! Dumbledore has destroyed the ring, right?! "

" Yeah, but, eerm, we don't know how...do we?" Ron raised an eyebrow skeptically.

" Of course we don't know..." Harry said with a flame in his eye. " But I know who does!"

" Who...but, of course! I'm so stupid!" Hermione grinned like an idiot. Ron deadpanned.

" Am I the only one who doesn't understand?"

Naruto poked him in the ribs and then pointed to himself and his comrades.

" Welcome to the club..."

* * *

" Tsunade-sama..."

" Don't you dare 'Tsunade-sama' me again, you little..." the woman released the collar of Genma, who didn't give up.

" Fine, Hokage-same..." the woman rolled her eyes annoyed. " We can't transport that much people! We barely even do it with one person! And you know we only can do it once! We aren't the Fourth!"

" I don't care!" she said and returned on her chair, looking at the shinobi she has chosen to send to the mission. " You better hurry up, Genma, you are on the night shift on the Gate..."

" No, I'm on the morning shift." he corrected and Tsunade snorted once again.

" I'm the Hokage and I say that you're on the night shift...SHIZUNE! Go tell izumo and Kotetsu that they'll take the morning shift and not this one..."

Genme shot the woman a nasty glare, but didn't dare to complain any farther.

" Hokage-sama..." Raidō said quietly, having more sense than his friends. " I must warn you, that if we transport that much people, the effect might be the similar to the Tensō no Jutsu (Heavenly Transfer Technique)..."

" So you mean to tell me that my shinobi are weak and won't be able to withstand the effects of such a jutsu?!"

" no, no...i just...I just had to tell you..."

" You don't have ...no, you better don't tell me anything until you return here, you brats!" Tsunade hissed and raised the sake to her lips, because she was pissed off. She was so nervous and Genma and Raidō weren't helping her at all...All she wanted right now was a little peace. She observed how the three shinobi from the Hokage's Guard Platoon, Genma, Raidō and Iwashi, who was smart enough to not bother her right now, barely made the complete circle around the shinobi, that were picked for the mission. Only seconds before they disappeared, Tsunade yelled.

" AND YOU BETTER BRING ME SOME GOOD NEWS!"

Only after they were gone, Tsunade sighed and massaged her temple. Genma and the others had nothing to do with her anger and she now felt kinda sorry that she has taken it all out on them. Kinda. The other thing that started worrying her was whether Raidō was right and whether the effect would become similar to Mabui's jutsu. Tsunade would never allow any of her ninja to be teleported by that woman't jutsu, because it wasn't meant for living creatures, as the body was unable to handle the speed involved in the transfer, they would normally be ripped to shreds as a result.

The Hokage didn't believe that would happen. Or at least, that's what she wanted. Realizing, that her brain wasn't dizzy enough for her to get rid of these thoughts, she screamed.

" SHIZUNE! BRING ME MORE SAKE!"

* * *

**Plot twist, muahahahaha...**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, guys and girls, and please, pretty please, REVIEW!**

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**xox**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

" And you mean to tell me that they are the Hokage's personal guard?! Tch. Pathetic..."

" If you can think of a better way to arrive for about ten seconds, please, share your ideas..." Ino's taunting voice bothered Sasuke to the edge of the unbelievable. After he replied with a grunt, the blonde girl looked away and muttered something about a 'psychotic shithead'.

" Apparating..." Harry said after a while, when he was finally able to look away from the three strangers, lying on the ground, struggling to breath.

" Eerm...OK, that Granny's out of her mind..." Naruto muttered as he looked at the people, who arrived at the office. Ino, who was helping Hinata and Sakura with the healing, Sai, who was smiling politely, probably just about to say something really disturbing, and Shikamaru, who was muttering something about really unfortunate turn of the events. " How could they help us with force?!"

" Ha!" Ino snorted and glared at the blonde, who dared to speak like that. " You just wait..."

" Hm...We're all full-fledged shinobi, but she should have sent somebody who could, well, _actually_ help us..."

" Full-fledged shinobi?" Shikamaru's brow raised on his forehead, as he looked at his blonde knuckleheaded friend. " You, my friend, are a full-fledged idiot."

" HEY!"

" You really are an idiot." Sasuke agreed on that one and looked at the young strategist. " Why are you here anyway? Do you bring the medallion?"

" It's a locket..." Ron corrected and the Uchiha glared at him. Suddenly, the redheaded Weasley felt, like that boy didn't like him too much. No, he didn't like him at all. Why was that? Deep in his thoughts, he ignored the rest of the conversation.

" OK, a locket, it doesn't matter what fucking accessory it is, did you bring it?"

" Why so demanding?" Shikamaru muttered, but looked at Sai. " Please, give him the stuff, so that he would shut up..."

While the other boy was looking through the backpack, Shkamaru was dragged into the hug of a not so tall girl, with rather large front teeth and a really curly, messy hair.

" Shikamaru! Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to see you..." Hermione said, as if she has just found a rare gem. She didn't notice the jealous looks of Ron, who was suddenly all awake, the confused expression on Harry's face and the shocked on the shinobi's.

" Oh..._OH!_" Ino snapped, leaving the tired Genma in Sakura's arms after shooting a glance at Ronald. " Oh...look...Hermione, sweet...if I were you...I'd give Shikamaru some..."

'' Private space?" a new voice said from the dark corner of the room. It was a feminine, cold, really harsh and scary voice. Just as she heard it, Hermione shivered and immediately released the boy with the spiky hair. He looked bothered.

" Who is..." Harry started, but Naruto interrupted him.

" You! But..."

" How did you...Sunagakure is..." Hinata stuttered, but there was a gentle smile on her features.

" Don't tell me it's..." Sasuke started and narrowed his eyes at the corner, as if to make sure it was the person who he was thinking about.

" Yeah, it's her..." Sakura nodded and stood up next to him, wrapping her both hands around his free hand. She remembered how that girl has looked at him when they have first met about three years ago, at the Chuunin Exam. Not that she was afraid, that Sasuke would look at her now, that he was with her...she was probably just bragging...yeah...

" Excuse me, but...who is she?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows and stared into the corner, where she could see a dark figure. But the face was well hidden in the shadows, until the woman stepped in and Harry and Ron tensed.

She was a really hot, really beautiful girl with green eyes and blonde hair, gathered in four, rather spiky ponytails. She was wearing a long, black kimono with short sleeves and a rather revealing neckline. She had fingerless black gloves and some sort of a package on her back...no, not a package...They couldn't tell what it was. Maybe some sort of weapon she was hitting people on the heads with.

" Hello." she said in the same dark, attractive voice. " I am Temari."

" Temari!" Sakura smiled, following Hinata's example. Naruto grinned and waved stupidly, while Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The girl narrowed her eyes at him, too.

" Good to see you old friends..." she muttered and then looked back at Sasuke carelessly. " And you...I really couldn't believe Konoha has let a traitor come back into their lines...such a shame, such a shame..."

Suddenly, Sakura's smile disappeared and she was about to jump on Temari and scratch her eyes, but was held back by Sasuke's arm on her shoulder. Ron and Harry exchanged confused glances, while Hermione shook her head and gave them the I-will-tell-you-later look.

" Don't bother...She's not worth it."

" Ha! And that's why your Hokage turned directly to Gaara to ask for my help! And what about the force now, huh, Naruto?"

The blonde raised his hands, as if he was giving up, the stupid grin still on his face.

" I take my words back...The Granny isn't that stupid, after all."

" I'm sorry, but...I still don't get it...who are you..." Harry stepped in and faced Temari, who suddenly smiled and pulled him, shaking his head.

" Ah. The scar. So you're that little boy we must protect!"

" Little?"

" Yeah, I'm Temari."

" Te-ma-ri." Ron muttered, letting the name sink in his brains. " That's a very nice name."

" Yeah, it's nice." the girl shrugged and stretched.

" Sai!" Sasuke barked all of a sudden. " What happened with that locket?"

The other boy, with the ANBU uniform was suddenly in the centre of the circle of people around him. He looked around and furrowed his brows.

" Well, i noticed how overly protective over SHikamaru Temari was and was fascinated by the woman's behavior. Yes, yes, even in the books I can't find an answer for females' actions...However, here it is."

Sai threw something at Kakashi and even without looking away from the book, he caught it. Then he lay it on the kitchen table carefully. Everybody gathered round, even temari, who had a slight blush on her cheeks, trying to stand as far away possible from the Nara, who rolled his eyes. The sensei then looked at Harry.

" It's the same...We just have to wait for-..."

There was a boom in the other corner of the kitchen and all the shinobi suddenly had kunais and shurikens in their hands. Sasuke-a sword and Temari has taken the 'package' off of her back and now the three wizards realized it was a huge fan. Sakura and Ino were standing behind with Harry, Ron and Hermione, while dragging the tired shinobi from the Hokage's platoon.

" What is that?!" Temari's disgusted voice was to be heard first thing when Kreachur and a little, old man appeared in the room.

" Which one?" Ino muttered and placed Genma carefully on the chair.

" That's a house elf, don't worry, he's our friend. They both are our friends." Ron tried to explain. He then pointed his wand at the man and whispered "Expelliarmus!"

Mundungus's wand soared into the air, and Hermione caught it. Wild-eyed, Mundungus dived for the stairs: Ron rugby–tackled him, and Mundungus hit the stone floor with a muffled crunch.

"What?" he bellowed, writhing in his attempts to free himself from Ron's grip. "Wha've I done? Setting a bleedin' 'ouse-elf on me, what are you playing  
at, wha've I done, lemme go, lemme go, or—"

"You're not in much of a position to make threats," said crossed the kitchen in a few strides, and dropped to his knees beside Mundungus, who stopped struggling and looked terrified. " You see those people over there? You know, the shinobi? Dare to move and I swear, we'll catch you and let Snape find you!"

" Didn't you just say he was your friend?" Sakura whispered at Hermione's ear, while she bit her lip.

" He is...kind of..."

"Kreacher apologizes for the delay in bringing the thief, Master," croaked the elf suddenly, startling some of the shinobi. "Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices."

"You've done really well, Kreacher," said Harry, and the elf bowed low. : I just need to ask you for one more thing. Can you please give me the locket for a few minutes and then I'll return it to you..."

" Y-yes, master..." Kreacher sounded really desperate, but handed the golden accessory to the boy's outstretched arm. Hermione pursed her lips.

" I swear in my own life, Kreachur, that you'll receive it after just a while!"

The elf didn't seem to be happy to hear her talking to him, but for the first time bowed a little and didn't offend her.

" Kakashi, there it is..." Harry gave the man the second locket and the sensei started looking for any differences. But there were none. He sent chakra impulses, but the feeling was the same. Nothing. He even made Hinata check the inside, but they were both just ordinary lockets with no trace of magic in them.

" It's not here. None of these two." Kakashi muttered and Harry turned to Mundungus threateningly, already knowing, that the real horcrux was supposed to be in him.

"When you stripped this house of all the valuables you could find," Harry began , "you took a bunch of stuff from the kitchen cupboard. There was a locket there." Harry's mouth was suddenly dry. He could sense Ron and Hermione's tensions and excitement too. "What did you do with it?"

"Why?" asked Mundungus, "Is it valuable?"

"You've still got it!" cried Hermione.

"No, he hasn't," said Ron shrewdly. "He's wondering whether he shoulder have asked more money for it."

"More?" said Mundungus, "that wouldn't have been effing difficult . . . bleedin' gave it away, di'n' I? No choice."

"What do you mean?"

"I was selling in Diagon Alley, and she come up to me and asks if I've got a license for trading in magical artifacts. Bleedin' snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an' told me she'd take it and let me off this time, and to fink meself lucky."

"Who was this woman?" asked Harry.

"I dunno, some Ministry hag." Mundungus considered for a moment, brow wrinkled. "Little woman. Bow on top of her head."

He frowned, then added.

"Looked like a toad."

Harry dropped his wand: It hit Mundungus on the nose and shot red sparks into his eyebrows, which ignited. Kakashi was the first to react.

_" Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu"_

The ground beneath their feet started shaking, as the water exploded from the sink in the kitchen and then fell all over Mundungus, like a waterfall. And then, instead of falling to the ground, it was disappearing. Vanishing. However, the jet seemed to be choking the little man, so Kakashi stopped the technique. He looked at Harry to only notice him staring at Sakura and Naruto. The same shock was reflected in the three young faces.

Sasuke growled and tightened his grip around Sakura's right arm. And Naruto showed his teeth, as he thought of the old toad...The scars on the back of his right hand seemed to be tingling again.

" Umbridge." the voices of all the people in the room, except for Temari, sounded like one, as they spoke the name in perfect sync. All their voices filled with hate, annoyance, disgust.

" So it's obvious what we'll do, right?" Naruto grinned evilly. " We'll infiltrate in the ministry and we'll steal the horcrux! Maybe a genjutsu or two, while we're there..."

" Naruto...you won't be risking your lifes because of me!" Harry repeated this like a mantra. He was getting tired of saying it over and over again. However, he was suddenly pinned to the wall and as he opened his eyes the girl with the blonde hair and the fan, Temari, was leaning against him with narrowed eyes.

" It's already a bit late, isn't it? Besides...we're already here, so shut it and get over it..."

Harry didn't dare to argue with her, because, she wasn't like the other shinobi. She was simply so...offensive and open. He feared her and her attitude.

" However, Naruto is right. If the horcrux is with my co-worker, Professor Umbridge, we'll have to infiltrate the ministry, right?" Kakashi sighed and stood up, finally leaving the book aside.

" Awesome, let's go..." Ino jumped, receiving annoyed glances from Sai and Shikamaru, and even Sakura, who claimed to be her best friend.

" Idiot.." Sasuke muttered and Ino started nagging with him. Naruto and Hinata tried to stay out of the fight, but somehow, they got involved. Kakashi inhaled and exhaled a few times, trying to calm himself.

But Hermione could swear, that while leaving the kitchen, he was muttering. And she heard it damn clear, too!

' What does that woman think I am? A babysitter?!'

* * *

**Heyo, dear readers...you know everything, right? I love you and so on, but you really disappoint me e.e **

**Where is your love guys? Please, tell me if you don't like how this is going so that I could change the way of writing! How am I supposed to know what you want, when you don't tell me?! **

**So once again, please _REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!_**

**Another thing, next chapter the action will already begin, and by action I mean, the ministry. and from then on, you know, camping in the forects, wooo :D**

**So, yeah, that's it, bye :)**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10**_

" I can't believe they think, that there is something fascinating in a missing number." Shikamaru muttered lazily, all of a sudden, startling Sai, who was peacefully drawing something on a huge scroll.

" What?" Hermione raised her eyes from the cards and looked at the smart boy.

" I said, that there are too many people in front of this house. I don't think it's because they're fascinated with the missing number."

The girl stood up from her chair and looked outside of the window. Of course, there were a few people leaning against the railing facing numbers eleven and thirteen, watching the join between the two houses. The lurkers were never the same two days running, although they all seemed to share a dislike for normal clothing. Most of the Londoners who passed them were used to eccentric dressers and took little notice, though occasionally one of them might glance back, wondering why anyone would wear such long cloaks in the heat.

" Of course..." Hermione sighed heavily. " Exactly when Harry is out, there are more then usual..."

Half a dozen men in long cloaks stood silent and watchful, gazing as ever at houses eleven and thirteen, but the thing for which they were waiting still appeared elusive. As evening drew in, bringing with it an unexpected gust of chilly rain, for the first time in weeks, there occurred one of those inexplicable moments when they appeared to have seen something interesting. The man with the twisted face pointed and his closest companion, a podgy pallid man, started forward, but a moment later they had relaxed into their previous state of inactivity, looking frustrated and disappointed. At that same moment, the front door banged.

Hermione rolled her eyes and motioned Ron to stand up. They appeared in the hallway and stared at Harry, who was taking his invisibility cloak away from him and Naruto. They waited for them to make a few steps, for Dusty to appear and then, after Harry whispered 'I didn't kill you', for it to disappear completely. As they entered the kitchen, Hermione sighed heavily, with furrowed brows.

" They noticed you."

" I lost balance when I apparated on the top stair. Naruto caught me in time."

The blonde beside him tried to smile, but frowned, instead.

" Hey, what is it?" Hinata appeared, followed by Ino, Temari and Sakura. She hurried over to Naruto and investigated his face and then, his body. "" Are you alright?''

" Yeah, we're fine..." he muttered. " It's just that we have bad news."

" Bad news?" Ino paled, but the other shinobi, that arrived, aka, Sasuke and kakashi, stopped her.

" Did we hear 'bad news'?"

" Oh, yes, yes, you did..." Harry said miserably and placed a newspaper on the table in the rather clean kitchen. Kreachur turned out to be very fond of Harry since he received his locket, which was, in fact fake, back.

" What's happened?" Ron asked apprehensively. He and Hermione had been poring over a sheaf of scribbled notes and perfectly drawn by Sai maps that littered the end of the long kitchen table, but now they watched Harry. He pointed bitterly at the front page, which attracted everybody's attention.

A large picture of a familiar, hook-nosed, black-haired man stared up at them all, beneath a headline that read:

SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER

" No!" said Ron and Hermione loudly. Hermione was quickest; she snatched up the newspaper and began to read the accompanying story out loud. " 'Severus Snape, long-standing Potions master at Hogwarts School ofWitchcraft andWizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrows will will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "'I welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest Wizarding traditions and values—' Like committing murder and cutting off people's ears, I suppose! Snape, headmaster! Snape in Dumbledore's study—Merlin's pants!" she shrieked, making almost everybody jump. She received a few disapproving looks. She leapt up from the table and hurtled from the room shouting as she went, "I'll be back in a minute!"

" 'Merlin's pants' ?" repeated Ron, looking amused. " She must be upset."

He took the newspaper and read the rest of the text.

" The other teachers won't stand for this. McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout all know the truth, they know how Dumbledore died. They won't accept Snape as headmaster. "

" Who are these Carrows?" Sakura asked while holding the newspaper, which Sasuke was peeking at from behind her shoulder.

" Death Eaters," said Harry. "There are pictures of them inside. They were at the top off the tower when Snape killed Dumbledore, so it's all friends together. And," Harry went on bitterly, drawing up a chair, "I can't see that the other teachers have got any choice but to stay. If the Ministry and Voldemort  
are behind Snape it'll be a choice between staying and teaching, or a nice few years in Azkaban—and that's if they're lucky. I reckon they'll stay to try and  
protect the students."

" And to think, that Snape was my favorite colleague..." Kakashi muttered and all teens looked at him as if he were a madman. " What?! He has always been with that cool attitude and he doesn't stand his students...We're so much alike!"

" That hurt..." Naruto muttered and then turned back to the teen wizards. " Would somebody please explain me why there are so much Death Eaters out there today? They're way more than usual!"

" It's like they're hoping we'll march out carrying our school trunks and head off for the Hogwarts Express." Harry whispered, while Ron glanced at his watch.

" I've been thinking about that all day. It left nearly six hours ago. Weird, not being on it, isn't it?"

Naruto thought about it for a second. He was positive, that right now, Ginny, Luna and Neville, probably were sitting together, wondering where their friends were. And Ginny, of course, would tell them, that they would be safe with the shinobi. The blonde wondered whether the others would miss them or remember them.

" Of course..." Kakashi said and for a second there, Naruto thought that he was answering to his thoughts, but then the man continued. "...you can't return now, that Snape is a headmaster and Hogwarts is completely under Voldemort's control. Well, partly. I highly doubt that Minerva and Fillius will obey that man."

" Of course they won't! It's like we already said, they'd try to keep the students safe! And Pomona and Poppy, too!"

" Who?" Harry furrowed his brows and Sakura looked at him disapprovingly.

" Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey. Kami, Harry! You've been studying there for six years and you don't know their first names! And I've only been there for a few months!"

" I know Professor Macgonnagal's and Professor Flitwick's...And Snape's, unfortunately! And, hey! Because of Hermione I know Lockhart's!"

At the last part, Ron's ears blushed and he looked away with an angry expression, while Sasuke snorted.

" And we're supposed to know who Lockhart is, because..."

" Oh, right! He was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in our second year. He went mad, because he tried to erase mine and Ron's memory, but the spell hit him instead. And his name is Gilderoy, just so that it's clear..."

" It doesn't matter..." Shikamaru interrupted. " Where did Hermione go?''

" Why would you want to know that?" Temari hissed against him and Shikamaru rolled his eyes, causing Ron and Harry to snicker.

" I'm here..."

Everybody turned to see Hermione, who was dragging an empty picture. Sai, of course, really frustrated by the way she was dragging the thing, stood up and almost ripped it out of her fingers. When he took it to the table with ease, she smiled.

" Thank you..."

" What is that? There's no creativity at all!" Sai commented, looking at the blank picture."

" That's because he's not here right now." Hermione smiled. " You should know what I'm talking about, right?"

" But of course we know what's happening in your weird mind!" Ron deadpanned, as she opened her little handbag. She proceeded to force the painting inside, and despite the fact that it was patently too large to fit inside the tiny bag, within a few seconds it had vanished, like so much else, into the bag's capricious depths.

" Phineas Nigellus," Hermione explained as she threw the bag onto the kitchen table with the usual sonorous, clanking crash. Harry\s mouth formed an 'O', while it took a few seconds for Ron to realize what was going on.

" Oh! I get it!"

" yes, if Snape tries to send him to the house for information all he'll get to see is the inner side of my bag!" Hermione stated proudly and smiled at the confused ninja. " The man from this portray can go to Dumbledore's office and back in here. It's safer like this."

" But can't you try to force some information out of him? " Temari asked and looked at her fan. " We'll kill him if we have to, but we ca also use him as a spy."

" The part with the killing won't happen." Hermione shrugged. " He's already dead."

" Wha-What? You can communicate with dead people?" the girl asked amused, as Hermione nodded. " But can you...can you...if that's so, we can return my mother and father."

" No, we don't return them. They are talking and thinking paintings."

Temari pursed her lips, considering the information. She has already seen the pictures in the hallway and finally understood what the other girl was talking about. Did she want to see her parents like that? Was it worth it? Maybe she could write to Gaara and ask him what to do. He'd be really frustrated at the idea to see or hear his father again, but his mother...of course, why not?

" I'll be right back..." Temari whispered and with concentrated chakra in her feet, jumped to the hallway up the stairs and then out of the sight of the other shinobi.

" Shikamaru...please...could you...check what she's up to?" Kakashi said without looking away from his book, while the Nara paled.

" Why me? You have a room full of shinobi and you pick me! Ino's brainwashed you, hasn't she?!" Shikamaru turned to his teammate. " What have you told him?!"

" Hey, nothing!" Ino muttered and looked extremely offended. " Why do you always accuse me?!"

" Now, now, don't blame Ino for anything. It isn't hard to understand, see? Especially for a person like me, with good senses...I have some knowledge, you know..."

" Knowledge? Where from? Your porn?" Sai asked, highly interested, while all other people looked at him, as if he were so out of place.

" I mean, the chemistry between..."

" Fine, fine...I'll go, just...shut up!" Shikamaru muttered and shot the sensei and Sai glares, after that, headed for the hallway while muttering. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.

" Sorry about that..." Sakura smiled nervously.

" Why do you apologize...I just didn't understand...what is it between Temari and Shikamaru? She seemed like she wanted to kill me yesterday..." Hermione shivered at the thought.

" You see..." Naruto began, but stopped after Ino glared at him.

" Well, there is a story between those two." she said with a smile, but that didn't seem to be enough for the wizards, who were listening with raised eyebrows. " Sakura, Hinata, can any of you explain this...that prick will blame everything on me again, anyways..."

" Hmm, it's none of our business..." Hinata smiled evilly and looked at Sakura, who sighed.

" FINE!" she sat on the nearest chair and glared at her girlfriends. " Look, Hermione, remember when I told you last time, that only a few of us pass the Academy? Well, we are ranked after that as genin. Of course, there are higher ranks. The next one is chuunin. And there is an exam after it. A lot of genin arrive from different Hidden Contries and only one becomes a chuunin after countless fights. In my year a lot of weird stuff happened because Orochimaru was kind of obsessed with Sasuke and kind of ruined our exam. However, that doesn't matter. Back to Temari and Shikamaru. Well, she isn't from our village. She isn't from Konoha, but from Suna. At one of the stages, there is a fight. One versus One. And they happened to fight against each other. Shikamaru is a really amazing strategist, he had thousands of ways to defeat her. And he did, in fact, he immobilized her, which in the shinobi world is a win. But before he finished the fight, he surrendered. Because he's lazy and because he didn't aim for becoming a chuunin. That was his excuse. A lot of people think though, that he let her pass to the next stage, because he had feelings for her. He denies that whatsoever. After all the unfortunate events which we have no time for explaining now, Shikamaru became the chuunin of that year, as I said, because he's an amazing strategist and the village needed that back then. However, that's for then. After that, he was in charge of organizing the chuunin exams and the person who was sent from Suna was Temari. they spent a lot of time together on working for the exam, but some people talk, that there's much, much more...And every time temari comes to our village she always ends up spending her time with SHikamaru. However, as Hinata said, that's totally not our business and we should stay out of it, OK?"

" Alright..." Ron said but looked at the ceiling as if he was wondering what was happening in the rooms above them. He then shook his head, deciding that it wasn't really obligatory to know.

" Back to the ministry..." Harry said and inhaled deeply. " I think we should do it tomorrow. We have no more time for planning. The longer we wait, the farther the locket goes. So...who's in?"

" You can't be serious, right?" Ron asked, but Naruto shrugged and stood up next to Harry.

" Why not? You all know everything about these people. You've been working on that for a month! Besides, we're with you, right? So...let's do this!"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who nodded briefly. Sakura smiled. Hinata blushed and nodded. Sai imitated Lee with the good-guy-pose and Ino hit him on the head, then she smiled, too. Kakashi simply continued on reading, which meant, that he had no objections.

" Perfect! So we're doing it tomorrow!" Naruto grinned and caught Hinata's hand.

* * *

" What the hell is that? Why are you him?" Naruto pointed the small unconscious man and then back to Ron, who has turned into him. " That's creepy!"

" It's the same with the Henge, which, by the way..." Kakashi formed a seal and turned into another man, that they have captured. "...is as useful n this situation."

The shinobi followed his example and changed into the people, who have been captured by them in the little street. Kakashi made sure to put some seals on, so now the wizards in there were sleeping and couldn't be seen by the people around. Hermione was drinking the same potion as Ron and Harry, who, by the way, were standing in front of them as a scary, strong man and a really little, chubby man. The girl started turning into a plain woman, which Naruto quickly noticed in the sleeping crowd. Everybody took the cards and some tokens from their bags and pockets.

" So, I'm Mafalda..." Hermione smiled with the face of the other woman and took her bag from her shoulder.

" And I'm Reg Cattermole..." Ron said and frowned. " Such a stupid name."

" Yeah, said Ronald Weasley..." a tall man with muscles and dark eyes said with a really common dark, hoarse voice. Of course, Sasuke would be the strong handsome guy from the group. That was so unfair, that Ron frowned even more.

" However, let's go!" Hermi-, no, Mafalda gave each person a token and then looked at the flow of wizards, that was heading towards the restrooms. The girl looked at the four other girls. A chubby woman with a really desperate expression.

" Why am I the fat one?" Ino whined in her own voice and Hermione smiled.

" Don't worry, I-Ino..." the woman next to her was blushing hardly. She was around the fifties, with gray parts in her hair, a really warm smile. But that was probably just Hinata. The woman behind her was at the same age and was trying to hide a fan under her cloak. Temari, of course. And then she looked at the last woman. It was a young woman, almost a teenager with red head and scary brown eyes. She was wearing glasses and her lips were twitched in a pout, that was making her even scarier. So that was supposed to be Sakura.

" Hell, she looks like Karin..." tha tall muscular man commented and another one, with a grin and black hair turned to him.

" WHAT? Who's Karin...Ooooh, Karin! The girl you brought to Konoha? I remember now!" the black haired guy said in Naruto's voice. And the face of the redheaded witch changed into a grimace.

" Let's stop talking about that bitch, OK?" Sakura asked bitterly. " Come on, girls, we should go to the ladies' restroom!"

" Fine, jeez..." Ino commented and pushed on the belly of the chubby woman she was now. " Let's go...I don't want people to watch me while I'm like that."

" See you in a moment, then," said Hermione nervously, and she tottered off down the steps to LADIES after Hinata, Temari, Ino and the angry Sakura. The male shinobi, Harry and Ron joined a number of oddly dressed men descending into what appeared to be an ordinary underground public toilet, tiled in grimy black and white.

" Morning, Reg!" called another wizard in navy blue robes as he let himself into a cubicle by inserting his golden token into a slot in the door. "Blooming  
pain in the bum, this, eh? Forcing us all to get to work this way! Who are they expecting to turn up, Harry Potter?"

The wizard roared with laughter at his own wit. Ron gave a forced chuckle.

" Yeah," he said, "stupid, isn't it?"

The man who was supposed to be Sasuke glared at the little Reg, causing him to shiver. The wizard who spoke to him earlier looked at the Sasuke-guy, then at the Kakashi-guy and finally, the Harry-guy. He bowed a little, as they went by. He then stared at the other wizards around them, who were actually the shinobi and wondered whether they were sane. As they escaped one by one in the cubicles.

" What , for Merlin's sake, is going one here?" the man commented and Ron looked at him.

" What?"

" Why are _they_ coming to work like this?! They usually use the Floo Powder and..."

" Who do you mean?" Ron asked and received a glance from the man beside him, who seemed to be suddenly highly suspicious.

" What do you mean by that, Reg?"

" Runcorn, Yaxley and Thicknesse, for Merlin's..."

" Thicknesse?!| Ron deadpanned and looked at the backs of his friends. " THE Minister of Magic?"

" Well, of course, Reg, didn't you see him? He's over there!"

Ron's brain was working too hard. Harder than usual. If Harry was that Runcorn guy, then Sasuke and Kakashi were the minister and Yaxley. Ron has seen pictures of the minister, so Kakashi was currently him, but unfortunately, he hadn't realized this earlier. He should have told his friends. And that means, that Sasuke was that Yaxley guy. Yaxley, Yaxley...he sure has heard this name...But OF COURSE! Yaxley! A Death Eater! Ron frowned and looked and turned to the shocked man beside him.

" Of course, of course...I saw him, weird yes...Bye!"

Before the wizard could say anything, Ron was hurrying towards the cubicles and lined up behind Runcorn, aka Harry. He leaned in so that he was closer to his ear.

" OK, you are some important guy, highly respected and feared, Sasuke is a Death Eater and Kakashi is the Minister."

It took Harry a few seconds to assimilate the information, right before it was his turn to enter. He took a glimpse at Reg (Ron) and frowned.

" Shit..."

* * *

**OK, I know I'm changing too much by making Sasuke Yaxley, but hey, it's more fun! And also Pius Thicknesse, the Minister. Kakashi and minister in one sentence just sounded way too good! :D**

**I hope you liked it, it was longer than usual, by the way...**

**So, please, review! AND GIVE ME IDEAS!**

**Bye, lovelies xox**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the delay, people, I had problems with the internet connection. But now, that everything's alright, there you go! **

**ENJOY! :)**

* * *

_**Chapter 11**_

Popping out of the fireplace obviously wasn't something weird for the wizards. At least, that's what Shikamaru realized, after he looked around himself. He wasn't prepared to land like this and rolled in the dirt of the hearth in which he appeared after setting foot in the toilet (an experience, he swore he'd never speak about again in his lifetime). A few people from the halls were looking at him as if he had some disease, so he hurried to stand up and join Hermione, who was hiding behind a fountain. She was looking at him apologetically with the expression of the woman, whose form she's taken now.

" Sorry about that. I forgot that you didn't know how to deal with that way of travelling. I am so stupid."

" Don't blame yourself..." Shikamaru whispered, so that other people wouldn't hear them. " It's normal to forget stuff when you are under stress."

he couldn't finish, because a little man with a grin rolled in the dirt in the same fireplace as him. As the man stood up, Shikamaru recognized the wizard, who Naruto was supposed to be. From the fireplace next to that one, the big guy, who was Sasuke landed almost gracefully. the Nara didn't have enough time to wonder how this miracle happened, because after Naruto, a few more wizards rolled out of the hole with dirty robes and faces. the only other person who escaped after Sasuke with grace, was Kakashi. And Ron and Harry, of course, but they didn't count right now. Hermione furrowed her brows, as Sakura was choking with the dirt and wizards started gathering around to see what was happening.

" Let's go." Shikamaru told her and they made their way through the crowd.

Sakura opened her eyes to only see the many wizards staring at her. No, not at her, but at the young woman she was now. but she didn't have enough time to think about that, because she felt an unexpected hit on her back, that made her fall once again. She realized, that a person has fallen on her. She looked up to see the chubby woman, whose shape Ino has taken.

" Pig..." she whispered quietly, so that only her friiend could hear her. She hurried to stand up.

" What's going on here?!" a man in a navy robe came in and looked around. As he looked through the crown, his eyes stopped on Kakashi awind they dened.

" Ah, minister! Such a nice surprise...But..."

The sensei, who has just been referred to as the 'Minister', didn't seem to be shocked or anything. He only looked around and counted his shinobi. Only one was missing. Then he made sure, that the Trio was there, too. That's when he turned back to the man with the navy robe.

" It seems like this fireplace is spewing the people out of it. Maybe it has been jinxed. It has to be fixed immediately, before there are any other accidents..."

As if to confirm his thought, a woman fell from the hole of the hearth and fell directly on Ino, who was still sitting on Sakura.

" Whoa! Get off me, you fat cows!" Sakura hissed and a few wizards from the crowd exchanged worried glances, when the young witch with the red hair stood up. When she moved, they backed away, as if they feared her. And Sakura relaxed, that her sudden outburst wasn't something unusual for the woman whose body she had right now. Awesome. So she could act as herself and nobody would make a difference. However, at the other side of the crowd, Kakashi, the Minister shrugged.

" See, that's what I meant!"

The wizards started nodding. The man with the navy robe turned to Kakashi, but his eyes stood for a second on Sasuke, who was right next to him.

" I will immediately send people to fix this problem. But until they come..." the man raised his wand and a big, fat, red X appeared in front of the entrance of the fireplace.

" Very well." Kakashi muttered and stretched really unconvincingly. " So...everybody back to work! NOW!"

His words seemed to have the wanted result, since people started moving away from the 'incident'. Only the shinobi and Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were looking everywhere, but at the shinobi, stayed there.

" We all go for the elevators and search for Umbridge. When we find her, we take the locket and go. And we won't separate." Shikamaru said, but Naruto laughed sincerely.

" Why do you have to bother with that? Have you forgotten?Kakashi-sensei is the Minister! She is under his command. So he will simply call her. Somebody will K.O. her and we'll take the necklace. And, oh, Hermione will make her forget, right?"

Everybody stared at him for a while.

" That..." Sasuke started from the body of the big man and Naruto frowned. Whatever he had to say it wasn't going to be good. that was Sasuke, after all. " That's a pretty nice idea, actually. And it won't be suspicious. I mean, the Minister of the Magic walking around with a crazy girl, that calls people 'fat cows' in the middle of the hall.''

Sakura smiled at him from the body of the young woman and made a few steps closer, wrapping her arm around his middle.

_" Stop that, you idiots..."_ Temari hissed quiet enough for only the shinobi to hear her and looked away._ " You'll ruin everything. What if the people you are don't even know each other?!"_

But it was too late. They, as people with very good ears, could hear the mutters of the wizards. Most of them were consisting of the awful scary Yaxley using the Imperio curse on the young, innocent girl. That was enough. Kakashi cleared his throat and started speaking as the Minister again.

" All of you, follow me. We have work to do!"

The workers around didn't really seem curious or suspicios, which was well. Obviously it wasn't rare for the Minister to always have people around himself. While they were walking, a few people stopped Ron to wish him luck for his wife's trial.

" What trial?" hinata asked, but Ron shrugged.

" How am I supposed to know. My wife...Wait a second, that's not my wife over there...Hermione! His wife has a trial today! That's why he didn't want to leave! Oh my, what am I supposed to do now?"

Ron was panicking until Pius Thickness, aka, Kakashi, smiled at him.

" Why would you worry, when THE Minister is on your side?"

The teens looked around, until Sakura caught Sasuke's arm, right before entering the elevator and deadpanned.

" Is it only me or is he having way too much fun with this situation?"

" I am, in fact."

" You know that the Minister is being controlled by Voldemort, right?" Harry interfered. " You can't just go and do something like this. They'll find out that we've imposers immediately!"

" As much as i hate to admit it, the brat's right..." the blonde woman said and everybody recognized her as Temari. That, and, of course, she was next to the person whose form Shikamaru has taken. There was an annoyed expression on his face. Sakura was healing carefully a scratch on hinata's arm, caused by the fall from the fireplace and Naruto was mocking Ino for being a fat woman. Ending with a fist in his face. No, in the wizard's face. Whatever.

" So I can't simply just call Umbridge?"

" No." Shikamaru sighed. " We'll have to understand what's going on first. We don't know where to find her. And we-"

" We do know where to find her. The first floor. There are the cabinets of the minister and his right hand. Which means, Umbridge." Ron said, but shut up, as the elevator announced the next floor. Once they saw the Minister, surrounded by that weird group of people, the wizards didn;t dare to enter. not just because of the minister, but because of the presence of Sasuke and Harry. They were looking at them for mere seconds, then they were bowing politely, until the doors closed themselves once again.

" What's with them?" Sasuke muttered and looked at his hands. " This person isn't that scary."

" Oh, blimey, I forgot to tell you!" Ron wailed and everybody turned to see him in the shape of Reg. " But of course they'd fear you. I don't know about harry, he's probably just someone fearsome. But you, Sasuke, have taken the form of Yaxley. A Death-Eater."

" A death-eater?! They have infiltrated the ministry that much, that they even admit being the villains? That's far worse than I expected it to be..." Shikamaru muttered and temari laid a supportive hand on his shoulder.

" That isn't really important, is it?"

" It is, of course!" Naruto's voice sounded colder than usual, startling Hinata and Sakura. " That bastard...he is so sure that this world will be his, that he even lets his servants come into the ministry. the Ministry, that your people had faith in! they were supposed to stop Voldemort, not work for him! That's...that's something that bastard has planned, isn't it? "

" I don't understand you logic, Naruto..." Hermione, no, Mafalda frowned and Ino snorted, still angry at the blonde for mocking her.

" Don't even try to. There's no logic in that round, empty brain of his!"

" That's not true, Ino..." Sakura objected. " He is right. He has let his servants infiltrate the ministry, even though he has direct control over the Minister. That means, that he doesn't actually care what's going on here. He knows that everything belongs to him, now that the most important figure is in his hands. He also has Hogwarts in his hands. What else does he need?"

" I get it now..." Harry whispered. " I understand."

" What?" Ron asked once the door of the elevator closed once again without anybody coming in.

" What Voldemort is after. It's not simply the control. Those trials people were speaking about earlier today...Hermione, do you remember what we read in the Daily Prophet? What Lupin told us?"

The girl in the witch's body started thinking. Her usual expression appeared on the woman's face in a mask of concentration. Until her eyes popped wide and her mouth fell open, trembling.

" No...No way!"

" Yes." Harry nodded.

" What the hell are you talking about?!" Temari asked in a low voice. It wasn't only her, who wasn't understanding. Sakura, Hinata, Naruto, Ino, Sasuke and Kakashi were looking at the Chosen one with narrowed eyes. Except for Shikamaru. He was smirking.

" And I was wondering how much time you'd need to understand that...you were slow, by the way...So, let me explain it quickly. I don't expect any of you, my dear friends, to have read the newspaper of the wizards, right..." as nobody said anything, he sighed. "...I knew it...However, there were these texts about muggle-borns being thieves of magic or something stupid like there was also something about the ministry undertaking a survey to understand how they came to possess magical secrets. However, there was nothing said about trials. Once we came here and I heard people talking about the poor people with trials today and I figured, that they were talking about trials of the muggle-borns. And currently, the workers in here are controlled by Thicknesse, who is controlled by Voldemort, who has studied in Slytherin, who has never let people, other than pure-blood study in his house. Therefore, there isn't actually a very bright future for any of the muggle-borns. So it's logical, that the objective of Voldemort is to clear this world from those, that he considers unworthy to be called wizards."

" So you're...what?...So...Voldemort wants to kill all muggle-borns?" Ron asked and his eyes flickered to his friends. Hermione has covered her mouth with her both hands and Harry's jaw was trembling.

" Lupin mentioned, that they haven't accepted any muggle-borns this year in Hogwarts."

" Excuse me, but what's a muggle born?" Naruto interfered and Hinata and Sasuke nodded. obviously, most of the shinobi had no idea what that was. Everybody except for Shikamaru and kakashi, probably, who was now with the lips of the Minister pursed into a thick line.

'' A muggle-born..." Hermione said this and the ignorance and pain and the taunting tone in her voice were too obvious. " Muggle-born is the term given to a witch or wizard who is born to two non-magical parents. Since you've been in Malfoy's company two years ago, i won't be surprised if you've heard the term 'Mudblood'. That's how the poor-bloods refer to those who have no apparent connection to magic, but still have powers. That's how Malfoy refers to me."

Her bitter words were met by silence. Until Naruto, of course, broke it.

" Hermione, you're in danger here...if only...HEY! WAIT A SECOND! SHIKAMARUUUU!"

" Huh?'

" If you've known about everything since we arrived here, then why don't you have a plan?!"

" Why do you think that I don't have a plan?"

" Well you...you do? Really? And what is it? And how can we find Umbridge?!"

The doors of the elevator opened once again and Harry had to keep his whole will to not let his jaw drop. Speaking of the devil...

" Ah, Mafalda!" Umbridge said in the girly voice, that send shivers up her ex-students' spines. And Temari, too. She looked at the little woman with disgust, after Shikamaru nodded almost unnoticed. " Oh, and the Minister himself! Hello, Pius, what's leading you here? I thought you were going to Diagon-Alley, right?''

" Ah, plans changed." Kakashi said and scratched the back of his head. Sakura poked him rather hard on the back and he immediately dropped his hand back to his it was. The locket. It was hanging from her neck on the pink suit. The sensei looked at Umbridge and the two men behind her. Of course, it would be so easy to punch them harder than necessary to make them lie unconscious on the floor. if it weren't the halls full with wizards behind them. He forced a smile, a plan forming in his head.

" Well, Dolores..." he started and a nasty smile spread on the woman-like features of the woman. "...what are you up to?"

" Travers must have sent Mafalda. She has to write the protocol of today's trials. Which, by the way, should start in ten minutes, so we should hurry."

" That's right, of course..." kakashi smiled. " But I have to speak with you for a minute, Dolores...private. Maybe at my cabinet. Mafalda, Yaxley..." Kakashi turned to hermione and Sasuke, since he only knew their names. " You two go to the trials until I and Dolores arrive. Oh, and, Reg...go stay with your wife. Must be hard on her."

Kakashi said that and a frown appeared on Umbridge's face. She handed the tablet with the list of names to Hermione, whose eyes started wandering all over it.

" Yes, Minister."

" OK, we'll be up at the...hey, Dolores, which room were the trials in again?"

" The courtroom on the second floor, of course!" the woman sounded surprised. " You assigned it yourself, haven't you?"

" Of course, of course..." Kakashi muttered and put a hand on Umbridge's waist, leading her out of the elevator, towards the halls. Before the doors closed behind them, he turned and eyes Shikamaru, who was pouting, with a smirk. " As I said, we'll meet you at the courtroom in ten minutes! All of you take care of stuff until I arrive."

Well, that request was pretty obvious. Stun the two men that joined them in the elevators and find the stupid courtroom. And try to free the muggle-borns while I steal the locket.

Yeah, even idiots like Naruto should have understood that. However, he kept on walking with Umbridge, not forgetting his own job.

" Minister, I'd love to chat with you, but really, I am the Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commision! I can't just let Yaxley deal with this on his own! Following your orders, we don't kill them off, we send them to Azkaban! But Yaxley always tries to disobey that order and kill them right there...If I am not there to stop him, then..."

" Don't worry, Dolores...Yaxley won't even lay a finger on them."

" That's hard to believe. Anyways, what is it, Minister...We missed your office."

" Really? My bad, my head is up in the clouds today..." Kakashi giggled nervously and turned around. He noticed the doorplate saying 'Minister of Magic' and touched the doorknob. Magic. He smirked in his mind and released a bit chakra, that, of course, beat the magic in the lock and the door opened quietly. Umbridge looked at him really suspiciously, while entering.

" So, what is it, Minister? Is it about the pamphlets? I know they're late, but I spoke with them today. they should be ready in an hour or so."

" It's not about the pamphlets..." Kakashi said and looked away from her. With his perfect senses, he could hear her breathing cease for a moment, he could hear her swallowing.

" Then what is it about?"

Kakashi laughed and turned to face the woman. He truly despised her. From the day he set foot in hogwarts for the first time and saw her, he knew, that she was no good.

" About that thing on your neck. Do you know what it is?"

" Oh, that?" she took the locket and smiled smugly. " An heirloom of the Selwyn family. One of the first pureblood wizarding families in our world, and , of course, I belong to that family."

" Oh, so a locket of a pureblood family?" Kakashi laughed off and her smile disappeared, since she realized that he knew she was making up this story. " You must not tell lies, Dolores."

" I must not...what?! What...h-h-how?! I mean..."

" What, dear?"

" You are not Pius." she whispered in horror, looking for her wand desperately. " You are P-Potter!"

Kakashi laughed once again and she froze with the wand in mid air.

" I am not Potter. That's offending, since I consider my skills far greater than the boy's."

" Must not tell lies...then you are one of them. One of the two horrible teenagers with him...the detention...I-I...who are you?!"

" I dare to say, Dolores, that I am not a teenager anymore, as much as I would love that..." Kakashi said and looked away from her, turning his back to her. he was in no danger. He'd hear her raising the wand and even if she managed to cast a spell before he could react, he'd dodge it. However, he released his chakra and felt his normal looks returned. he heard the woman behind him gasp. Probably because she recognized the way the silver hair was going to the left. Or probably because she recognized the flak jacket.

" You...Hatake Kakashi..."

" I am flattered, that you remember my name." he answered and turned to face her. Sh had red anger flecks on her skin on the face. her hands were trembling, when he made a step towards her.

" What are you doing here, you...you..."

" What I'm doing here is of no importance, but...since it somehow concerns you..." he pointed her chest. " I am here to take that locket."

" T-The locket...H-How insolent you are! I won't let you steal my stuff!"

" Technically, it isn't yours." he said calmly. " That locket doesn't belong to your family. it belongs to Salazar Slytherin."

That new piece of information obviously startled Umbridge, since she locked her fingers around the medallion. Suddenly, there was awe in her eyes. And then back to determination. A weak one, though.

" I have been a student in his respective hose, while you...you are a...a...a shinobi! You have no rights on our treasures!"

" That's where you're wrong, Dolores. That's your lie...I, as a shinobi, have all the rights on you, wizards..."

And the last thing she saw before her eyes filled with white flecks, was him approaching her with inhuman speed.


	12. Chapter 12

_** Chapter 12**_

" What is he doing?" Harry looked at Sasuke, who was leaning against one of the men that was still conscious. He was in Yaxley's body, but his eyes were red. Red with spinning orbs. It was freaky.

" He's investigating...kind of..." Naruto muttered and looked at Sasuke with furrowed brows. " Oi, teme, faster!"

" Shut up, dobe..." Sasuke said, but stood up. And the red creepy eyes were gone, too. they were again replaced by Yaxley's brown ones. " It's next to the Mystery division or shit, one of the court rooms on the same floor."

" Very well..." Shikamaru sighed. " At least we know where we're going."

" What's that Mystery..." temari started and Hinata hurried to answer.

" That's where we fought the Akatsuki two years ago. I wonder if they fixed the place..."

" Of course they have, Hinata! They have that spell, right...What was it again, Sakura?"

" It's Reparo." Hermione answered while still looking at the two men on the floor of the elevator. Once Sasuke stood up, the second man kind of fell asleep. It was weird, but Hermione didn't dare to question him. Sasuke was strange in a way and she really didn't want to know why. And she was kind of scared of him. He and Temari were different than the other shinobi. Kakashi was too strong and he could also be scary, but he was always kind with them. Naruto was Naruto. He was fun and very nice. Hinata was the shyest girl she's ever met, she was really sweet. Ino and Sakura were also cool, but, just like Kakashi, they were scary sometimes. Well, women. And rivals on top of that. And last, Shikamaru. He was too lazy to even make anybody fear him. Of course, hermione knew, that none of her kind could even stand a chance against him, but he just seemed so normal. Just like every normal girl and boy...he was simply lazy. And amazingly smart. Something Hermione didn't like at the beginning. She has always been the best in the classes and when Shikamaru arrived, he took that position from her so easily. And she was so frustrated when she found out, that he wasn't even a wizard. He was so much better. But, well, time played its role and probably from all the shinobi, he and Naruto were the ones she felt strongly attached to. They and Sakura, who was now looking at Sasuke disapprovingly.

" What the hell were you thinking...are you nuts?"

" Wha-"

" So you just had to knock them out in the elevator. In the FREAKING ELEVATOR!" she massaged her temple with her forefingers and then sighed. " So we will have to carry them somewhere. Without those stupid wizards seeing us...Uh, no offence..." she added, as Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

" Oh, for Kami's sake, shut up, Sakura. You're making my head pound..." Shikamaru complained. " Sasuke and Naruto will take them to some of the rooms in the Mystery division. Hinata will go with them, so they wouldn't get lost in that place. And we will find the courtroom. And we will wait there for Kakashi-sensei, alright?"

" What about all the people that wait for trials?" Hermione asked in a high-pitched voice. " They aren't guilty! It's the lies of those...of those...Ugh! They are not thieves of magic! They are wizards and we should help them!"

" You always try to help people and that's when we usually get doomed..." Ron remarked and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

" We'll see when we get there. if there's anything we could do, we will. Just don't forget that we must not be caught in here. Not that there is a threat when we're here, but still..."

" There we go.." Ino said with a smile once the door of the elevators opened. They got out of there. Harry looked around and only saw the chubby witch, that was Ino, the rather young wizard, that was Shikamaru, the young redheaded woman, that was Sakura and the other one-Temari. there was no trace of Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto.

" How did they..." he didn't finish the sentence. he perfectly knew about their skills. He, himself, has been on sasuke's back and has experienced his speed. Back then...he trembled. They were about to exchange him. But it turned out, that they were actually helping him. Whatever. Harry didn't want to think about that right now, that they were walking down the hallway towards the door, that he has dreamed so many times two years ago. Behind that door so many people found their deaths. All those shinobi freaks from the weird organization. And Jiraya. And Sirius. Harry gulped and looked away from it. He noticed how cold it was. And he gasped. Of course he would be thinking about stuff like this when they were around!

" Dementors..." he whispered. Hermione made a grimace and Ron tripped over nothing. Happily, he got caught by Ino in mid air so he didn't damage himself. Ino did that for him. She hit his head.

" Watch where you're going, baka!"

" What does baka mean?"

" Nothing..." temari said and raised her arm. She was reaching for her fan carefully. " Stay calm...I sense chakra..."

" You can't sense chakra from anybody except for us!" Ino snorted, but the girl from Sunagakure shot her a glare.

" I sense somebody's chakra. or it is probably somebody with strong magic..."

" They don't have strong magic...That must be the dementors Harry was speaking about..." Sakura said calmly and concentrated. " Yeah...it is like chakra..."

" What's a dementor?" temari asked, but didn't let her fan loose.

" A dementor is a non-being and dark creature, considered one of the foulest to inhabit the world. Dementors feed off human happiness, and thus cause depression and despair to anyone near them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state, and thus are often referred to as "soul-sucking fiends" and are known to leave a person just like...like an empty shell." Hermione explained and as she finished, she frowned again. " They're not something we'd want to meet right now."

" wait, what are the dementors doing here? They should be in Azkaban! I mean, guarding Azkaban!"

" Why would they be there, when all the Death-Eaters are freed and the only people in the prison are poor muggle-borns with confiscated wands. They can't escape. If they try, they'll meet their death at the see below." Harry muttered darkly and sighed. " However, so we know, that the trials are close."

" Yeah, they're this way..." a new voice said and everybody turned to face Sakura, Naruto and hinata, who, as always, was smiling sweetly.

" Fine...what else did you see, Hinata?" Shikamaru asked and the smile disappeared from her features.

" It's awful. The place is filled with magic. With dark magic. Even my byakugan can see it clearly, which means it's quite a massive amount. However, there are those awful creatures, the dementors, as Hermione said, that are probably guarding. And yeah, that's it. They still haven't started, because Umbridge, nor Yaxley are there..."

" So they won't start soon..." another new voice, highly common, said and they looked at Kakashi skeptically.

" that was fast, kakashi-sensei..." Sakura muttered darkly. " Did you punch her with chakra? Or did you use the Sharingan?"

" Both." he shrugged and Hermione tensed next to Temari, who smiled at her evilly, which made the poor girl shiver and step away. " I took her out and then used the Sharingan to make her forget, that she's ever owned a locket...which, by the way, is in me and it's awful and I sense power from it, that has nothing to do with chakra, but is powerful. So we can simply leave."

" Wait...what? NO!" hermione protested and everybody looked at her. " What about all those people in there? What about Ron's wife?"

" SHE'S NOT MY WIFE!"

" Whatever...we can't just let them wait there...we should help them escape!"

" Are you saying this because you really want to help them, or because you're a muggle-born yourself and fear, that some day they'll capture you, eventually..."

Hermione shivered at Temari's words. That girl was mean. As if he had read her thoughts, Naruto grinned.

" She's not mean, Hermione, calm down. temari is simply a person, that doesn't hold back and says anything, that's on her mind...which in some situations is really bad..."

At the last part, naruto looked at her and narrowed his eyes. She snorted. However, Hermione cleared her throat.

" I want to help them because they're innocent!"

" Fine then..." Shikamaru sighed. " We'll go in there, knock out everybody that poses a threat, take the people and disappear from here."

" Simple as that? I like it!" Naruto grinned and Shikamaru pouted.

" Whenever we're with them, my plans fail, so there's no need to be thinking any farther, right? Knowing my luck, they'll find out that we're intruders and they'll try to stop us. However, we'll go now, because I'm tired and I want to sleep."

" Idiot." Temari said, but there was no hate or offence in her voice. just warmth. Hermione pouted once again.

" Fine. We'll deal with the dementors." Harry said and smiled somewhat.

" You can deal with those? Cool..." Naruto said and closed his eyes for a second. He then was himself again. Not the tiny weird-looking wizard. He was Naruto. The one with the spiky hair, the big, blue eyes, the mischievous grin, the orange pants, the sandals and the black top. Naruto. " Let's go..."

When harry looked around, he noticed, that the shinobi were themselves again. Sasuke, with the weirdass clothes, that were revealing his chest and muscular arms. Sakura, with the tiny pink skirt and red top. Ino, with the purple mini-stuff she was usually wearing. Hinata, with her gray and lila sweater and baggy pants. temari, with the long, black kimono and the huge fan. And Shikamaru, whose clothes were like Kakashi's. Hermione assumed they were some sort of a uniform in their country. As if to confirm that, temari looked at the green jackets.

" Our flak jackets are safer. You should try them, too..."

" Ours aren't made to be safe, but useful. See? We have scroll pockets...And as I said, no need for protection. Konoha shinobi don't need that."

" You're too full of yourselves!" Temari pouted. " Even Gaara wears a flak jacket of Suna sometimes!"

" Gaara is weird..." Naruto stated and stretched again. " Now, let's go there and finish our job and then go back to Grimmauld Place. I heard Kreachur speaking about some pie!"

They didn't speak anymore, but started walking in the direction, that Hinata was pointing. But with every step it was getting colder and colder and ino noticed, that harry, Ron and Hermione were frowning. That's why she smiled.

" Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

" We're not worried." Ron said. " Well, maybe a little, but it's not from that. It's the dementors. They suck out the happiness."

" Good thing. At least one of us is safe..." Naruto commented and looked at Sasuke, who growled as a response.

" No, seriously. Aren't you feeling sad? Or at least not happy?" Hermione asked with Mafalda's raised eyebrows.

" Nope. I'm good." Naruto smiled, as well as Hinata and Sakura. Kakashi was into his book and Shikamaru and Temari simply ignored them. Ino furrowed her brows and then laughed with her gorgeous laugh, that Ron adored so, so much!

" Yup. We're all fine. Probably due to the fact, that we're shinobi and not wizards. Chakra versus magic, right? "

" I...I guess so..." Hermione answered, but stopped with furrowed brows. Her features twitched.

" Hermione?"

" I-I'm fine...It's just..."

" Don't worry." Harry tried to smile. " We'll be alright..."

He took his wand out and closed his eyes. Before whispering the spell, he smiled.

" Expecto Patronum!"

A silver deer escaped the end of his wand and started walking around. Ron and Hermione's faces lightened up.

" Better?"

" Better..." they answered in chorus.

" What's that?" Naruto pointed the animal with his chin and Harry answered.

" It keeps the dementors away. "

" Holy..."

Naruto started, but his breath ceased. What was that? They have just walked past the corner and...

There were people everywhere. It was full. But it wasn't just random people sitting on the benches. Those were desperate for help people. Some of them were sitting on the free spaces on the benches, close to each other, as if trying to stay away from the threat. Others were on the ground, struggling to breath. And why was that? Because those awful hooded figures were swaying above them and were trying to reach them with their awful, thin, skeleton fingers. Naruto, nor any of the other shinobi has ever seen anything like that. Everybody was looking at the figures with widened eyes. Especially Hermione.

" So...many..."

" YOSH!" Naruto screamed and before anybody could understand what was going on, there was a clone beside him and was already forming a blue chakra ball in his hand. The boy grinned and shot himself to one of the hooded figures, that was leaning against a crying man on the floor.

" NARUTO, STOP!" Ron screamed, but the boy was already stretching out his arm, the Rasengan only a few inches away from the dementor. And when they clashed, nothing happened. Only Naruto caught the creature's attention and it turned towards him. It grasped the blonde's hand and pulled him closer.

" What the-..." he was muttering, while the dementor was leaning closer and closer against his face.

" NARUTO!" Hinata screamed and was about to jump in to help him, but Kakashi has caught her and has unabled her to move.

" Stay still. We can't deal with those..."

Kakashi didn't move or jump in to help, he was only looking at Naruto, who wasn't moving either. He wasn't trying to get out of the dementor's hands. Or probably he just couldn't? Sasuke turned to the sensei, who only shook his head once again. The Uchiha tch-ed and looked back at his friend, ready to jump in to help him, but a girl's voice startled him.

" HARRY!" Hermione yelled, startling the boy.

" Uh...Oh...Yes, yes!" he muttered with widened eyes and moved his wand towards Naruto. With that movement, the deer he has produced earlier started running towards the dementor, that has caught the blonde ninja and was only a few centimeters away from his face.

" Shit, shit, shit, shit..." Naruto was whispering, pulling his arm. But the grip of that skeleton was too hard and he wasn't able to move.

And that's when the light from Harry's deer reached them. The dementor backed off immediately, letting Naruto loose. The blonde rolled and landed on his feet. however, the light of the deer was making the dementors back off to the walls, away from the wizards. Everybody was looking at the knucklehead. Every muggle-born was still observing the red marks on his hand, where the dementor has touched him. They were looking at him not even close to pale face and angry blue eyes.

" Konoyaru..." he muttered, but Shikamaru stopped him.

" No...we don't have time and knowledge about them. We should just leave."

" Fine then...But I'll kick their butts someday!"

" Technically...they don't have butts..." Hermione started, but shook her head, then turned to Kakashi. " We should hurry. they have probably already heard."

" Yes...Shikamaru...what shall we do?"

" Sakura, Hinata, Ino...go to the court room and stop everybody, that poses a threat."

With that said, the three girls disappeared in front of the eyes of the shocked muggle-borns. However, the Nara continued.

" Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sasuke gather everybody. Me and temari will not let anybody get through if there are people coming. And after the three of them return, we get upstairs, at the atrium...wait a second...you can't apparate without a wand, can you?"

" No..."

" Mendokse..." Shikamaru massaged his temple and his eyes ran on the muggle-borns. " How many of you have wands?"

Maybe half of them raised their hands.

" That would do." Kakashi muttered, while picking up an unconscious woman from the floor and laid her on the closest bench. There was a man there, who caught kakashi's sleeve and looked at him.

" H-Help us! Get us out of here!"

" That's what we're trying to do, dumbass!" sasuke hissed, while pushing a little group of people next to Kakashi. He shot him an unapproving glare.

" You are the sh-shinobi, that were in Hogwarts two years ago, right?" the same man asked, ignoring the tension between the two ninja.

" Yes."

" Then you are here to put an end, right?" he said with a smile. " An end to...to...You-know-who! Are you..."

" Yes, yes, we'll kill that bastard and we'll return the piece in this world. " Naruto said and looked around. " That's everybody, Kakashi-sensei."

However, he didn't receive an answer, because all the people around started whispering bout the were looking at Harry, Ron and hermione, who were still under the effect of the Polyjuice potion.

" Don't worry...they're with us." Hinata explained, when she, Sakura and Ino stepped in. She then turned to Kakashi and Shikamaru. " There were only five people. Now they're...yeah..."

They didn't wait for any more notifications. Kakashi pushed Harry, Hermione and Ron slightly and motioned the muggle-borns to follow them towards the elevators. They got in all together. The elevator was that big.

" Everybody just stay calm and follow my lead." Kakashi said and concentrated. After just a second, on his place was standing he Minister of Magic. And the other shinobi were wizards again.

That caused the mutters from the people behind to become even more.

When the door opened, though, everything crashed. In front of everybody's eyes wizards were closing the fireplaces with the same red 'X'-s that had appeared on the one, that they got out of. They were closing their passages. there was no escape. For the wizards. however, Kakashi got out of the elevator and yelled with strong, loud voice.

" STOOOOP!"

For a second there, his words seemed to have an effect on the workers. But then, a little, chubby woman with toad-like features and a pink suit came in from behind the fountain.

" Uh-uh! He's an impostor! All of them are!" Umbridge screamed. " CONTINUE WITH THE SEALING!"

As they heard her, they continued on working. Almost every entrance was closed.

" We can still get out..." Naruto whispered and clenched his fists, ready to attack.

" No..." kakshi said and changed back to himself, causing all the people in the atrium to stop and stare for a while. The rest of the shinobi followed his example. Umbridge paled, but then a smile appeared on her lips. " You...how did you wake up? My genjutsu was definitely a strong one..."

That's when the smile of the toad woman turned into an evil grin. Only the army of cats was missing.

" Because, Hataka Kakashi..." she started, while two men came from the behind. One of them was the Death-Eater , whose shape Sasuke has taken, Yaxley. The other one was the real Minister. " You are not the only shinobi in our world right now..."

With that said, every fireplace was closed. Kakashi's eyes flickered to the closest one and Pius Thicknesse laughed.

" Not even you can escape that." he said. " We also happen to know, that you are defenseless against dementors..."

And the hall started filling with the awful creatures. Naruto grimaced, as he looked at the old toad. Oh, how much he hated her.

" As if!" Temari said and stepped forward, with arms crossed in front of her chest. Umbridge looked at her with disgust written all over her face.

" Who are you? I haven't met you before..."

" You should be thanking your god, because if you've met me before you wouldn't have been here, but two meters underground in some graveyard right now instead." Umbridge took a step back, Thicknesse stuttered and Yaxley frowned. " And as for those weird black puppet-like freaks..."

Temari smirked and reached for her fan. Wizards took their wands out and aimed at her, but she was faster. She jumped and the spells missed her.

" What do you think, Kakashi? One moon or two moons?"

" How about three? Just in case..."

" Hm. Fine." the young woman laughed and opened the whole fan, that was now bigger than her. She raised it and stomped it against the wizards and the dementors, that were approaching them very fast.

Harry, Hermione and Ron have never expected to see a fan that powerful. Even the most awful summer could become awesome with that thing. However, the effects weren't that nice, leaving the Trio with open mouths and shivers up the spines. The air mass was huge and the dementors were pushed to the opposite walls of the atrium. Umbridge and the two men were also there, with cuts on their skin.

" Naruto, Sasuke...the fireplaces..."

The two boys jumped at Kaksahi's command. the wizards over there didn't dare to move after Temari's performance. They didn't move even after Thicknesse's command. They were simply standing there as paralysed. No...they wanted to move. But the shadows didn't let them.

" All of them? Impressive, Shikamaru." Ino smiled.

" They don't open!" Naruto's voice reached Kakashi and his smile disappeared.

" Shit..."

" THEY HAVE CHAKRA SEALS IN THEM!" Sasuke yelled back.

The sensei tilted his head at Umbridge.

" So we're not the only shinobi in this world right now, you say..."

" As I said..." she said while panting, trying to stand up and reach her wand, but in a mater of seconds, Kakashi was there and broke the wooden stick through the half. " NO! No, you bastard!"

" Who is your ally?"

" No! You broke my wand!"

" You'll get another one, but if you don't answer you'll first have to figure how to get out of here alive..."

Umbridge tried to move, but Kakashi pushed her against the wall. He suddenly wasn't as kind as Hermione has thought. Now that she thought about it, he or any other shinobi hasn't acted scary in front of her before. Not that scary. She could only see Kakashi's back from there, but she noticed the way he was holding the toad woman by the collar, pushing her against the wall. She could see the lightning running on his skin. He was, she dared to say, fearsome.

But while she was thinking, one of the wizards in Shikamaru's shadows screamed towards her.

" MAFALDA! DO SOMETHING! STOP THEM!"

She stiffened and looked back at the wizard. She didn't answer anything, just moved her gaze on the muggle borns.

" Don't worry, people, they'll get us out of here in no time..."

" I wouldn't promise stuff like that..." Sakura said, but Hermione didn't pay attention to her, because there was a woman hanging on Ron's neck. Or rather, on Reg's neck. He was pushing her away, but she was still fighting to get closer to him.

" Stop that immediately!" Hermione demanded. " You must be the wife of Reg Ca...whatever, the wife of Reg, right?"

" Y-yes...''

" Please, release my friend. That is not your husband. He has used Polyjuice potion."

Immediately, the woman released Ron, who sighed relieved.

" Then who are you, guys? And why have you used Polyjuice potion?" the woman asked and Harry smiled sourly from Runcorn's body.

" I am Harry. Harry Potter."

The sound that was made in the hall reminded of an airplane. Thicknesse looked at the boy as if somebody had slapped him. Well, after all everybody was after him and he has somehow sneaked into the ministry. Into his ministry. And Yaxley...he was rolling up his sleeve. harry slapped himself in his mind, but in a matter of only a few seconds, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, temari and Shikamaru were around him, facing their current opponents.

" Harry Potter you say..." Umbridge muttered, but Kakashi pushed her against the wall once again. " Well, that makes our job even easier...As you asked, Hatake Kakashi, the other shinobi are..."

" No need to introduce us, you old hag..."

Kakashi dropped Umbridge on the ground. Sakura and Hinata exchanged glances before looking at the fountain. That voice. Sasuke hissed. That tone. Naruto growled. That robe. Kakashi lifted the hitai-ate from his left eye, his Sharingan spinning madly

" YOU?!" Ino screamed and took a kunai out. " What are you doing here?! How are you here?!"

" We should thank your second Hokage...for inventing the Jutsu to bring people back to life..."

The two figures stepped into the light and the blonde Yamanaka clenched her fist even harder.

" We're not alive. And yet now, we're not dead. We're the walking dead...We're Edo Tensei Reincarnations."

* * *

**Dun Dun DUUUUUUUN! Trouble ahead...**

**Cliffhanger...again...I'm such a troll :D**

**So, what do you think? Was it good, was it bad? Please, review :)**

**BY THE WAY! Longest chapter...almost 5000 words...you're welcome :D**

**So, that's it, Potterheads and Narutards...until next time :3**


	13. Chapter 13

**OK, I am emotionally crashed, since I just watched episode 22 of Attack on Titan. I cried like a baby, I admit. However, if it in some way influences this chapter don't blame me, but Hajime Isayama...that bastard...killing my new favorite fictional characters and shit e.e**

**Oh, and by the way what happened to the oldschool guys out there ( I mean those, who read Mission:Hogwarts since the beginning)...Why don't you review anymore ;-;**

**However, enjoy! I hope you'll like it :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 13_**

" I knew it! So it was chakra, after all..." Temari said, but cautiously pointed her fan at the two, well, not men, but teenage boys that were walking towards them.

Their bodies appeared grey and in a state of minor "decay": marred by cracks and other imperfections. Their eyes have lost their glassy state. In a few words, they looked like zombies, kind of. But it was still easy to recognize them. The way the taller one was grinning, the way the blonde hair was falling on his back, the way he was looking at them...There was no doubt about it. It was Deidara. And the other one, of course, was with red hair, a very blank expression and the same black robe. That was Sasori. The puppet master. But now that he was here...he has been reincarnated by somebody...so has the puppet master become a puppet himself...?

" May I ask, how come you two are here, since we made sure to kill you both?" Kakashi asked, his eyes as expressionless as always.

" If your stupid Hokage thinks, that by sending you, Hatake Kakashi, she could protect the brats over there, she's wrong. Because now we're here again and we won't let you get us that easily!"

" Besides...we're dead." Sasori added in his low, murderous voice, that send chills up Sakura's spine. That bastard. She didn't have the chance to get her revenge on him after he attacked her and poisoned Sasuke. He was so going to pay for this. Unintentionally, Sakura started gathering chakra in her fists. Clearly by instinct.

" Who brought you back?'' Kakashi asked and narrowed his usually calm eyes.

" Idiot...you think we will tell you that easily, hn?"

" Well then, we'll make you tell us!" Temari screamed and swung her fan, causing instant damage. More cuts appeared on the wizards' skins. And also, on the zombies'. Temari smiled smugly, but as Sasuke tensed next to her, she looked closely.

Yes, there were cuts, but they were already closing themselves. Realization hit her and reached her eyes. Which Deidara smirked at.

" See? Let's see how you weaklings deal with us! We will crush you...we'll definitely get our revenge...And we'll let you know what it is to die!"

" Wait a second, wait a second!" Shikamaru interrupted and Hinata tried to catch his shoulder, to stop him from walking towards the enemies. But he was actually hurrying, until he reached the middle of the atrium, right between his team and the Akatsuki duo. " I don't understand. If that's your goal, then why are you teaming up with the Ministry?"

" Teaming up?" Deidara laughed once again. " You idiot...we're not with them. You just happen to be on their territory. That's why we're also here...And what better chance than actually becoming friends with the minister of magic?"

" I-Idiot..." Shikamaru repeated quietly and looked straight into Deidara's eyes. he hasn't been that frustrated in a long time. Nobody has ever dared to insult him like that. And well, that freak in front of him just did. " I'll show you what an idiot can do..."

With one jump, Shikamaru returned to the line of his people and looked at Ino for a second. She immediately understood his intentions. They have been comrades for almost five years now.

" Hold me, Sakura..."

Before the rosette could understand what was going on, Ino was falling in her arms, unconscious.

" You pig..." the girl muttered, as she realized, that the girl has transferred in somebody else's body. But of course! Sakura smirked, as she noticed the concentrated look on Shikamaru's face. So she was in him, listening to his plan.

" Sasuke!" Sakura hissed and the boy looked at her. " Use your Sharingan to understand Shikamaru's plan."

As if waiting for a signal, Ino breathed in and Shikamaru stared right into Sasuke's eyes.

" I see...I'll get on it now...Ino, explain it to Sakura and Hinata."

With that said, Sasuke jumped and landed next to Kakashi. He raised his eyes to him and nodded. Obviously, Kakashi didn't need to use his kekkei genkai to understand his students' intentions. While they were still staying at the front, Shikamaru and Ino gathered the rest of the shinobi around Harry, Ron, Hermione and the muggle-borns.

" Look, first of all, we attack Deidara." Shikamaru muttered. " Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei will deal with him. Sai! Prepare your seals, because once he's in a not so good state, you'll be there to seal him! Ino, Sakura,Naruto me and Hinata, we protect the others. And you, Temari. Can you deal with Sasori? He's from Suna. You must have some intel on him!"

" I don't...Only Gaara has access to the archives!"

" Tch...Fine then..."

" WE HAVE INTEL!" Runcorn shouted and broke in the circle of the shinobi.

" Harry?"

" Of course, it was me, Ron and Hinata, who stopped him last time. We simply cut the threads with our spells, while Hinata was making her way closer to him. And then she totally beat the crap out of him! Well, Yamato was there, too, but I guess some of you can use wood to make a cell, too, right?"

" Hn. Wood? You have a wood user in Konoha?!" Temari sounded impressed, which made Hermione doubt, that any of them could use that element.

" No." Shikamaru interrupted everybody. " You, wizards, won't interfere! The only thing we'd ask you to do is summon those shiny silver things, that keep those black freaks away!"

" It's called a Patronus."

" Fine...How many of you can perform that ju-...that spell?"

Harry and Ron raised their arm, Hermione hesitated, but did, too. Only a quarter of the people that had wands from the muggle borns did. Which was quite pathetic. Approximately, fifteen people. But Shikamaru didn't know about the strength of that spell, so he simply nodded.

" Fine...Then keep the Dementors away, while we deal with the shinobi. Oh, you can also stun Umbridge if you want, she has no wand now, so she's totally defenseless. Or would you like any of us to kill her?"

" Kill?" Hermione whispered, but Ron nodded thoughtfully.

" Well, it would be a favor for the humanity, wouldn't it?"

" Stop it, you two!" Harry scolded them. " How come we won't interfere? We want to help!"

" Listen, Potter!" Temari growled and caught the collar of the huge man, that Runcorn was. She was holding a kunai against his nose. " I am tired of listening to your whining. We have been hired. And you just received orders. Follow them without complaining! Am I clear?!"

" You are not the one who could tell me what to do! I cannot let you die in front of my eyes!"

" Stupid Harry..." Ino smiled, while Naruto snorted next to her.

" Oi, have some faith in us, dattebayo! Even if they can heal in just mere seconds, they're no match!"

" Eh, Naruto, they were enlisted like S-class criminals, when they were alive. And now they can't die, so basically, we are no match...but...yeah, you've got the point!" Hinata whispered, but then smiled at Harry. " Have faith in us, OK?"

Before anybody could say or do anything, they saw the lightning. Everybody turned to the sight in front of them. Deidara was clashing with Sasuke, who has lightnings all over his body.

_" You brat...the same trick won't work twice, you know?"_

_" Actually, dumbass, you can't use anything else than earth, so, yeah, it will work perfectly fine."_

_" Unless you haven't noticed, prick, I am dead. You can't kill me again. So we can go on, and on and on and on, until you have no chakra left."_

_" Oi, jackass, instead of talking nonsense, try to think and realize, that you are not against the same old kids from back then. And most of all, you are against Konoha shinobi. And against me, Uchiha Sasuke! And right now I don't fight just because I want to protect my friends, but also for my brother's sake. Because I am sure, that he hasn't lived happily while he was in your company. I pity him really much right now!"_ Sasuke fired off a fireball against the blonde, who dodged it only by centimeters._ " No, really, being around you must be a torture..."_

_" You have no idea how right you are..."_ Sasori commented from behind Deidara's back. Sasuke snorted and Deidara turned to eye his comrade for a second. " However, we have no time and will to wait for this fight to end by waiting for you to use up your chakra, so we'll end this quickly...shall we?"

_" That bastard..."_ Naruto whispered angrily, while puppets started appearing around the redheaded teen zombie. " Shikamaru, stop him from moving!"

_" Unless you haven't noticed...I hold all of the freaking wizards!"_ the Nara hissed through his teeth and looked at kakashi, who was calmly observing the fight of Deidara and Sasuke. Everybody else was, too, but the only thing the wizards could see was a sudden lightning or a little explosion in the air above the fountain of the atrium. They'd eventually see the two shinobi on the heads of the wizards of the statue in the fountain, or hanging upside down from the ceiling, each of them holding a weapon. Some of the muggle-borns were squealing from fear, so Temari turned around and growled at them some pretty colorful insults. She then turned around and looked at the puppet master, that had his hands up in the air. The sight of the enormous account of puppents didn't scare her. She was Kankuro's brother, after all.

_" So you are Sasori from the Sand, huh?"_ she asked quietly and the teen tilted his head.

_" Yes. I am flattered to know, that my name is known from the kids of your age."_

_" Tch. Well, I'll make sure to erase your existence from this world once and for all. You have brought great shame for Sunagakure!"_

_" Such a pity...and you look like somebody who could actually become an useful shinobi...I am sorry, but your path ends here..."_

_" KONOYARU!" _

Sasori fell to the ground, a hole in his shoulder. Everybody looked at the pink hurricane that has hit him. Sakura was breathing heavily, while readying herself to punch him once again.

_" You filthy freak! I will make you pay for hurting Sasuke!...SAI! "_

Sai took out a scroll from his haori and went closer to Sakura.

" What the hell is going on here?!" Harry asked, while pointing his Patronus at the wave of newcoming dementors. " And hurry up, hermione! We need your Patronus! Come on, people, get yourselves together! We need your help! Come on, try!"

Hinata turned to the Patronuses of the wizards. Only Harry's was complete. The other animals were kind of flashing, some of them even disappearing. There was a dog near Harry's deer, that was also quite strong. Hermione raised her wand once again and whispered the spell, but nothing happened, only a flash of silver light.

" Come on, Hermione! You can do it!" Ino said and smiled. " ALL OF YOU CAN! PLEASE, HELP US!"

Hermione concentrated on her memories. Happiest moment in her life...Happiest moment in her life. Probably when she received her Hogwarts letter...no...The moment, when she was saved by Ron and Harry from the troll. That was the moment she became friends with them. And as she recalled that, all the happy memories with the two boys started flowing in her mind. She could literally feel the magic power rise in her and she directioned it towards her hand, towards her wand, that was waiting for the command.

" EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The otter jumped out of her wand, as well as a few more animals from the people behind her. They scattered around the hall, pushing back the dementors.

" Good work, guys!" Hinata smiled, but was distracted by yet another explosion. As she looked up, she realized that Kakashi has joined the battle with Deidara and Sakura was being pinned to the ground by some sort of wires, that were coming out of Sasori's body. And, of course, Naruto was there, creating Rasengans non-stop, trying to free his comrade from the grip of the Akatsuki member.

" Shit..." Ino hissed and made her hand sign, trying to position it on Sasori's head. She was planning to transfer in his body, but he was constantly moving, since Sakura, herself, wasn't letting him touch her. She was struggling with her enormous strength to make the wires loosen a bit. Naruto was helping, too, since while trying to avoid his attacks, Sasori was moving around. And Sai was simply drawing something on the scroll beside him. he seemed really concentrated on what he was doing.

" HURRY UP, SAI!" Shikamaru scremed and shivered.

" What is it?" Hinata asked immediately. " Are you hurt?"

" Ts..no..." the boy answered and closed his eyes, concentrating. " Those brats are struggling to get out. Of course, they can't defeat my jutsu, but they're too much, so I'm using way more chakra than I would, actually. "

" Hang in there, just for a few seconds..." Temari said and clenched her teeth, putting the fan on her back. " Oi, Hinata, Ino, help me!"

With that said, the kunoichi jumped and hit the closest wizard very near to a vital point on the neck, making him fall unconscious. After seeing what she was doing, the Konoha girls pushed themselves forward and started knocking out the Ministry wizards. After less than a minute, all of them were down, except for Umbridge, Yaxley and Thicknesse, who were still lying on the ground with cuts on their skins, looking at the two fights in front of them. Shikamaru seemed kind of relieved, although he was panting heavily.

" Oi, Harry, don't do anything stupid, OK?"

" Hey, I-"

" He won't do anything stupid as long as I'm here..." Hermione said and looked at her otter, that seemed like it was jumping joyfully in front of the dementors on purpose.

" Good." Shikamaru nodded and nodded to Temari. She narrowed her eyes, but followed his gaze, as he turned to Umbridge. _" Hinata, Ino! Help them with Sasori!"_

_" How about..."_ Temari gasped and turned around to face the person, that was talking. Only to find out, that they were six. But only two of them dear to her heart. _" How about...we help with the fight and you four go destroy that toad?"_

_" Kankuro! G-Gaara!"_ Temari said, shocked._ " What are you doing here?!"_

_" Less talking..."_ Gaara said and looked at the Akatsuki members with a thoughtful, very bothered look._ " Do we have a ninja, that can perform seals?"_

_" I am an ANBU captain. I can."_ Yamato said and looked at Sai._ " And he is also an ANBU member. He is preparing the seal."_

_" Kiba!"_ Ino whispered and threw herself on the boy's neck. Well, the only thing that bothered her, was the fact, that she received a lick on the leg to only find out that Akamaru was also there._ " Oh, awesome..."_

_" Not now...we have to stop these pricks now...They really are getting on my nerves..."_ TenTen stretched and smirked at Neji. " Let's do it!"

With that said, all of them, jumped in to stop the fight, leaving Ino, Hinata, Temari and Shikamaru behind.

" Who the hell were those?"

" Neji. And Tenten and Kiba. And Yamato...you have to take some memory pills, Harry, you've got it bad..." Ino remarked, but Harry snorted.

" I meant the other two..."

" Later...we'll explain everything later... Let's just say, that with them here we have nothing to fear." Hinata said and pushed the two girls. " Let's go. Those two over there are taking their wands out. We must stop them before that."

As if to check if she was right, harry raised his eyes to the opposite direction of the atrium. Thicknesse was looking around, but Yaxley really had his wand out. And he was looking at none other, than Harry. He was raising his arm towards him. But he saw the four figures flashing towards him.

" Crucio!"

Harry expected to feel awful pain. But he didn't. He dared to open his eyes and they widened. Hinata's eyes were wider than usual. She was shaking on her spot, yelling. So he hasn't aimed for him. Or he has, but the girl has jumped in the way of the spell.

" HINATA!" Naruto yelled, but didn't stop moving, because Sasori was currently jumping at him. Harry didn't know how it has happened, but Sakura was already in the hands of Yamato, who was placing her right next to Ron carefully. And the redheaded guy, that was wearing a weird thing on his bag, that Harry figured was full with sand, was currently floating in the air on a pile of dirt and was moving only his hand to control the sand, that was following Deidara. And the other guy. He has summoned three puppets. Harry trembled. So he was going to fight Sasori, the puppet master, with puppets. Dude, he had no chance. But then again, Sasori was one and Kankuro, Naruto and Sasuke, who has noticed the unconscious Sakura, were enraged and ready to attack. Harry looked back to Hinata. Ino was shaking her, as if trying to make her come back, but the girl kept on yelling, until Temari kicked Yaxley in the face. After the contact a really nasty sound reached harry. It made him think, that either his nose or jaw were broken, or a few teeth were missing. Whatever, that made the man lower his wand and the spell to end. So, Hinata fell in Ino's arms. Shikamaru was standing right next to them, facing Thicknesse with a funny smile. The man still hasn't found his wand in the robe, so after only a second, he was lying down on the floor, after being kicked in the stomach. And that left Umbridge, that was backing off slowly, but as four pairs of eyes bore into her, she screamed, trying to get help. But she looked around to find out, that her fellow workers were all unconscious on the ground of the atrium. Harry didn't know why, but there weren't any people coming from the elevators. Something made him think, that the newcomers, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, Yamato and the two other guys, that Temari has referred to as Gaara and Kankuro, had something to do with it. Which made him shiver even more. He wondered whether the Daily Prophet would write about this in the next edition. No, probably not. They wouldn't write about all the Ministry workers being defeated. And they wouldn't want to make people panick by telling, that even stronger people than Voldemort were here now. Actually, their ancestors. Harry still couldn't believe that story, but it had to be true. It just sounded like some sort of a tale. But, oh well, it had to be right.

But he got distracted once again, since Hermione caught his arm supportively.

" There are more of them now...don't worry! We'll get out of here..."

" AHA!"

Once again, Harry's eyes wandered around till he found the source of the voice. It was Kankuro. He was grinning wildly, because he has just caught Deidara in some weird puppet, whose belly was closing.

" Sasuke! Come here and put lightning on the blades. That way he won't be able to move or perform jutsu."

But instead of Sasuke, who was now holding Sakura's unconscious, no, Harry was hoping that it was unconscious, Kakashi went there and let the lightning on his skin enter the blades of the puppet. And with that, they went through the holes, pierced Deidara, that was locked in it. So, one down, one more to go.

But he was getting pretty worked up, too. One of his hands was currently growing once more. It was like shattered pieces of paper were coming back together. It wasn't scary, but creepy. So now, all of them were gathered around Sasori, but the one to stop him from moving was Gaara. he used sand and made it probably harden, so that the redhead was pinned to the floor. Neji was planting his hits all over his body, on vital points.

" SAI! NOW!"

An ink lion jumped out of the scroll, that Sai has been concentrating so much on. It grabbed Sasori between its teeth and jumped back to the scroll.

" Done." tenten grinned and inserted one of her weapon scrolls back in her pocket. Neji rested his arm on her shoulder. Gaara and Kankuro joined Temari. Naruto hurried to Ino, who was still holding Hinata, who seemed like she was feeling better, which amused Harry a bit. And Sasuke and Kiba were around Sakura. Shikamaru was standing in front of Umbridge with a disgusted expression.

" You are not worth the guilt over killing...Remember, that we'll be here. And we'll always stop you. And while you're sleeping, think about whose side you're on."

" Slee-"

Umbridge didn't finish, because she was knocked out by Shikamaru hitting her at the same spot, that Temari, Ino and Hinata have aimed for when they have brought down the rest of the wizards.

" They did it..." Ron smiled and turned to the muggle-borns. " THEY DID IT!"

" Yeah, hooray, we're the heroes...again...now, Yamato-taichou, kakashi-sensei...deal with the fireplaces and remove the seals. And you...all of you...what happened to the rest of the people in here? And, more important, why are you here?"

" Unconscious, some of them, dead." Kiba shrugged, Harry shivered.

" And why we're here?" Gaara added and looked at Harry, who was himself again. Hermione and Ron were back to normal, too. So the effect of the Polyjuice potion was gone now. He then looked at Naruto, and finally, back to Shikamaru. " You can't be serious, right? You really don't know?"

* * *

**Well, I'm evil, sorrynosorry...**

**So, how was it? Please tell me, I like to hear what you think, but unfortunately, many of you don't review! I only get one or two, maximum three reviews per chapter, which is _pathetic_! e.e**

**So, REVIEW! **

**See you soon :)**


	14. Chapter 14

** I hope you'll like it :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 14_**

Kakashi shot a glare at Gaara, who opened his mouth, but then closed it again. Both of them looked at Naruto for a mere second, but it didn't go unnoticed.

" What?" the blonde asked and looked at the Kazekage and his former sensei. " Why are you here?"

" We must tell him!"

" No, you must not! We are currently on a mission!" Kakashi objected and Gaara narrowed his eyes at him.

" I am the Kazekage! You can't stop me from-"

" Exactly, you're the Kazekage." Kakashi nodded and sighed. " You're making me use _that_ and I really didn't want to, but...you have nothing to do with Konoha's shinobi. So, don't interfere with our Hokage's decisions."

" Wait a second...what's going on here?" Ino asked and looked around. Neji motioned her to shut up, while Kankuro and Temari were staring intensely at their brother.

" Fine. We'll discuss this later. Now it's more important to get out of here. Who are they, by the way? Should we kill them, too?"

Harry tensed and felt Hermione's arm tighten around his elbow. The muggle borns behind them started whispering in horror, making scared steps backwards. Until another shinobi spoke.

" No. Our mission is to protect them." Kiba said and stood on his friends' side against Gaara and Kankuro. Temari was lined up with them with a guilty expression.

" OK. I have no idea what's going on in here, but some of them are starting to move, so, let's go."

Hermione turned to the fireplaces to find out, that one of them was already without an X. Which was good. She looked to the middle of the atrium, where Sai and Yamato were doing some weird signs around the puppet of the guy that just arrived with the redhead, that proposed to kill them. He was as old as the other shinobi. Probably a bit younger, but seemed really powerful. Maybe she should stop thinking about them like this. They were all powerful. All of them looked powerful, that compared to them, they looked pathetic. Which they were.

" OK...We can all Apparate together...we're not that much. So, me, Harry and Ron will Apparate with all of you at the same time, because I doubt, that me, myself, could move everybody...And you, people..." she turned to the muggle borns. " Each of you, that has a wand group with somebody, that hasn't. Apparate to your families, gather them and leave the country until everything is set..."

" We have our faith in you!" an old man with white hair turned towards the group of shinobi, his voice echoing in every corner of the room. Hinata immediately looked at her feet. So did more of her friends. The Akatsuki simply had to ruin their whole plans, didn't they? Frankly, it was getting a bit annoying. They did beat them once already...they could do it again, just like this time. But if they hadn't received help from the arrivals, they wouldn't have made it. hinata was glad to see her cousin, but his brows were furrowed since the moment he stepped in. Tenten was cheery, trying to act as usual, but Hinata could tell, that she was highly bothered by something. And Kiba was Kiba, he was just like Naruto, always so carefree. But even he, even he had this wrinkle on his nose, that showed that he wasn't exactly happy right now. But the ones, that shocked her were Kankuro and Gaara. Actually, just Gaara. Why the hell was the kazekage here? What about Sunagakure?

" What about Akamaru?"

" Seal him in here for just five minutes..." Yamato handed Kiba a scroll. The boy was about to start arguing, but after Neji's glance, he shut up and started apologizing to Akamaru for 'what he was about to do'.

After they were all set, Hermione caught Sasuke's arm. He was still holding Sakura, so he was at the end of the line. ON Hermione's other side, there were Naruto, Hinata, Neji, then Ron, who was highly bothered by Kakashi's arm. The sensei was holding Ino. the chain went on with Shikamaru, Kiba, Tenten, Temari, Harry, Kankuro and finally, Gaara.

" Do you think you could make it?" Kakashi asked and Hermione nodded hesitantly.

" I guess so."

" Wait a second..." Naruto grinned and concentrated on something. Hermione immediately released his hand with a loud ' OUCH '.

" What in Merlin's name was that?!"

" Nothing...just an experiment...obviously it doesn't work..." the blonde muttered and caught her arm again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you..."

" What was that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked and he shrugged.

" I just tried insetting some chakra in her, that's a-"

" YOU WHAT?!" Ino yelled and Naruto's eyes widened. " How could you, you idiot?! That could have been fatal! She is with magic, you fucking dumbass! Even the slightest amount of chakra could have killed her instantly!"

" Don't worry..." Hermione said, all flushed. "It was simply as if a snake bit me...Now hold on tight...Harry, Ron! Three, two, one...-"

They all rolled in the darkness before they felt ground under their feet. Harry felt the ground under his toes, so he hardened his knees to take the landing. When he was on his feet, he opened his eyes and with a joyful laugh noted the succesfull arrival at Grimmauld Place 12. And then, Kakashi hissed.

" Apparate! Now!"

" What?!" Hermione asked, panting.

Before Kakashi could answer, the door started opening and a dark robe was to be seen. Hermione closed her mouth and concentrated hard. Hard. Hard. Only her. She had to transport fifteen people by herself. That was insane! But not unheard of. So she focused and released her magic.

Before she could feel anything else, she felt great pain above her knee and looked up to only see one of the Death Eaters with a pointed at her wand.

And then they were spinning and spinning and spinning again...

* * *

Ino opened her eyes carefully. She wasn't holding anybody anymore, but was really relieved, when she noticed everybody lying around on the ground in the golden leaves. Wait, golden leaves? She looked around. Why were they in some forest? She quickly stood up and the first person she looked for was Sasuke, who was leaning over Sakura.

"Move." she commanded and pushed Sasuke out of the way. She placed her hand on Sakura's chest and sighed, when she felt the pulse. Ino concentrated on her chakra and concentrated on discovering the problem.

Meanwhile, the others were standing up. Everybody, except for Hermione.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. As well as all the other shinobi. It was a really unpleasant and yet so common smell for their sensitive noses, especially Kiba's, who was too busy with unsealing Akamaru. The smell reminded of rust, but it was something else and they knew it. It was blood. Essentially, they looked around to check if everybody was alright, but that was when they saw the witch, lying on the ground with her hands wrapped around her leg.

" Hermione!" Ron was first to say and he kneeled next to her, helping her sit on the ground. His eyes moved to the deep cut on her leg, which he frowned at. It was bleeding too hard.

Hinata looked at the wound, then at Sakura, who was still asleep, then at Ino, who was healing Sakura. Their eyes locket and Ino nodded. Hinata knew what to do. She rushed over to hermione and placed her hands above her wound, causing the girl to shiver.

" Don't move. I am no as good as them, but I will heal it."

Hermione tensed, as the green light started enwrapping her leg. It was fascinating to watch it move around on its own. Actually, she knew, that hinata was controlling it, but still, it was fascinating. Except for the fact, that she could feel the way her skin was re-growing on the wound, which was tickling her. And it was painful, that tickling.

" It's closing up..." Hinata whispered and looked up to Hermione. " How did this happen?"

" The Death Eaters..." she answered and bit her lip. " The Death Eaters...they were there...someone must have..."

" SNAPE!" Harry growled and kicked a pile of leaves, frustrated with his former potions master.

" Don't jump to assumptions. It may have not been him." Ino barked and stood up. Sasuke moved his gaze from Sakura's face to the blonde's. Ino sighed. " She'll be alright. Be careful. She's sleeping."

The Uchiha seemed calmer, as he carefully laid Sakura's head on his backpack, using it as a pillow. He then turned to the other shinobi, who were gathered around Hermione, at probably two meters away from them.

"We should...hide this place..."Hermione managed to say and looked around. "I can't...I...I am extremely tired...Harry, Ron! I-I will tell you the spells...they are high class, so make sure to do them alright, O-OK?"

" Don't talk..." Hinata said and moved her hands, that weren't glowing anymore, to hermione's, catching them carefully. Naruto was staring at Gaara, who was just standing up there with an emotionless face. Kankuro was like that, too.

" yeah, that's right." Kakashi said and looked around. " We'll take care of that...Yamato!"

" Why is it so, that when you say 'we', you always mean me?!" the guy deadpanned, but stood up from the ground and received a funny glare from the white haired sensei.

" Fine. Sai!"

" That isn't much different, you know?" Yamato said and shook his head. "you know what, forget it. I'll deal with this. Oi, Neji! hand over that scroll!"

Neji, who was helping Tenten to stand up, caught the scroll, that was lying on the ground with his free hand and threw it harder than necesary to the ANBU captain. And then there was Shikamaru, who was looking around with an angry expression.

" It shouldn't have been like that!"

" What do you mean?" Temari, who, as always, was beside him, asked and placed a hand on his shoulder, which he ignored.

" Those dead idiots! I mean, those...alive, but dead brats! Those undead!"

Temari giggled.

" Calm down. You are talking like a twelve year old."

She received a furious glare for that statement.

" Who has revived them? Who would revive the Akatsuki?"

" The Tsuchikage, principally." Gaara said and stepped aside, as everybody stared up to him, even Kakashi, who looked up from his book. " But it wasn't him."

" Gaara..." Kakashi muttered and the redhead looked at him calmly.

" Hatake Kakashi. I respect you and hold a really high opinion of you. But if you continue opposing me..." the glimpse in his eyes changed. "... I will kill you."

The wizards, except for Hermione, who seemed like she was too tired to even keep her eyes open, looked amazed at the young boy, that wasn't much older than them. They just saw a ninja, who dared to stand against Kakashi, who they feared and thought was the strongest one. Or probably they were mistaken? Was it possible, that this young man was stronger than the teacher? They looked up to him with awe. The rest of the shinobi seemed horrified. Except for Kankuro and temari, who seemed like they were used to this and Yamato, who was working on some scroll.

_" Oi, baka!"_ Naruto stepped in, totally oblivious to the tension. " I kicked your butt once with Sasuke-teme once...I don't care, that you're the Kazekage, I'll do it again if you threaten my sensei once again."

" Ex.'' Kakashi corrected from behind Naruto, who ignored him, as Gaara stared into him.

" Naruto. Nice to see you again. It's been a long time."

" tch, To see you after two months. Believe me, I am not really fond of this..." Sasuke commented and stood up next to Naruto. " And as the dobe said...threaten Kakashi once again and we'll be wiping the dirt of the forest with your face."

" Huh? Sasuke, you're going a bit too far, aren't you?" Naruto asked and Ino giggled, catching everybody's attention.

" Stupid boys! It's still because of the Chuunin exam, isn't it? Just because Gaara kicked your ass, it doesn't mean that you should be rude to him now, that he is a much higher rank than you...Or should I remind, that you and Naruto are still genin?"

" That battle wasn't finished properly!"

" Because you ran away from Konoha and the other idiot ran around three years trying to get you back...As I said...genin!"

The two boys from Team 7 immediately blushed and looked to the ground, but that's when Gaara smiled. Gaara! SMILED!

" It's good to see my old friends."

" Weirdo..." Kiba said and patted Akamaru, whom tenten was giving some bone from somewhere. Neji was looking at his cousin with narrowed eyes, as she was smiling at Sai and Temari.

" But that doesn't change the fact, that I should take you home, Naruto."

The noises stopped. It was deafeningly quiet. Harry and Ron looked at each other. Hermione was sleeping. Naruto looked at Gaara with an open mouth. The rest of the Konoha shinobi were staring between them confused, except for Kakashi and Yamato, who shared knowing looks with concerned expressions. Kankuro didn't seem too happy from the situation either, while he was staring at his elder sister.

" You should have reported, Temari, that the mission they asked for, involved getting out of the borders of the Hidden Countries."

" You're not my father, so shut up." she snapped back and crossed her arms. " And I found no need to. There is no threat?"

" No threat? Even your fan wasn't working on them! THREE freaking MOONS!" Kankuro was pointing behind his back,a s if the Akatsuki members were there. Temari formed a fist and was ready to stomp it on Kankuro, but Gaara stopped her by raising his hand.

" That's not why we're here, Kankuro. This has nothing to do with this mission."

" Then why are you here? And why do you want me?"

Naruto stared at Gaara. Sasuke was looking intensely at his closest friend, then back at the guy, who had brought him headache at the Chuunin exams three years ago. Temari bit her tongue and stared angrily at Kankuro, who shrugged innocently. Ino and Hinata were looking at the people in the middle. Yamato has turned around from the seal to watch what was going on. kakashi was massaging his temple with closed eyes. Neji, Tenten, Sai and Kiba were looking at Gaara, ready for an answer. The Kazekage pursed his lips.

" Because, Naruto...they're still here. The Akatsuki. And they are still after the Bijuu."

Naruto clenched his fists and prepared to snap back something about those bastards being unable to catch him, but Gaara was faster.

" It's begun, Naruto. All the shinobi have united forces, all the hidden contries came together to confront this threat. All ninja are out there to protect the last thing, that's left to us before they start their crazy plans."

" Why?" Naruto asked difficultly.

" Why?" Gaara echoed and looked back into Naruto's blue eyes with his green ones. "Because the Fourth Shinobi World War has already begun."


	15. Chapter 15

** I hope you'll like it :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 15_**

Naruto was walking around the house, that Yamato was so kind to build in a matter of a minute for them. It even had a pool, which Kakashi was really impressed by it, judging by the fact, that he patted the captain on the head and called him 'Good boy Tenzou'.

Whatever.

Naruto didn't like what he has heard just a while ago. A few hours before his watching shift began, Gaara was so kind to inform him what was going on in their world. What was happening to his and every other shinobi country out there.

There was war. Or if not yet, then it was just about to begin. And why was it? Just because some weird, still breathing, Akatsuki member was trying to get his hands on Naruto's and Bee's chakra. He still didn't know why they needed it. Gaara didn't either. Or he was just being as fast as possible and was skipping the senseless facts. Howere, Naruto frowned and kicked a rock.

'_ Oi, teme, you only bring me trouble'_ he thought and was positive, that the Kyubi has heard him, since he felt the growl in the inside of his head and felt how his stomach tightened for a second.

_' Next time you need help to deal with your shit go ask Sasuke and forget about me. '_ the angry response flew to him, causing the boy to roll his eyes.

_' Don't forget that I beat you and your chakra belongs to me!'_

_' You are even more stupid than I expected...'_ the Kyubi sighed and Naruto saw a glimpse of it in him, locked up in its cage, resting peacefully on its front legs. The giant fox, Kurama. _' I am chakra, you idiot. I am an almost endless resource of chakra. Don't you get it? That's why they're after you and Bee. As much as I hate to admit it, Hachibi is strong, too. Not as much as me, but strong. And as a strong one, he simply wouldn't let himself get caught by a mere human.'_

_' Should I remind that you're locked inside a mere human?'_

_' Tch. Bee isn't as stupid as you. So that makes his chance of survival bigger. And you...well, without my chakra you are pretty much nothing.'_

_' Says the guy that I happened to defeat. Remember? It was too damn pretty obvious, since, well, I took your chakra.'_

_' Oi, you little bastard, just you wait until I am in the mood to crush something. It will happen to be you. From the inside.'_

_' What were you saying about that survival?'_ Naruto ignored him and the Kyubi clicked with its tongue.

_' Just listen this time and try to understand. The chakra that the Akatsuki members extract from the Jinchuuriki, the chakra of Bijuu, it is being concealed in a giant statue, Gedou Mazo, the big, empty vessel of my...let's say it, dad, the ten-Tails.'_

_' First, your dad is the ten-tails? And second, how the hell do you know where that chakra was going?'_

_' Tch, idiot...no, Ten-Tails isn't my father. I don't have a father. I am not something that has been born. I am simply chakra. I am a part of the Ten-tails. And we, Bijuu, have our ways of communicating. However, once there is enough chakra collected in the statue of the Gedou Mazo, they'll be able to awaken it. And with that, the Ten-Tails, the Juubi. And with it, the end of your kind will come, as well as the end of the world you know...And you wouldn't want that to happen. So I'm just saying that you should try and stay away from their hands. Maybe that's why you're here, after all.'_

_' So you think, that the Granny only sent me to England, because she didn't want me to be in the Hidden Countries?'_ Naruto frowned.

_' Could be. But do you remember exactly why she let you?'_

Naruto closed his mouth and concentrated. He couldn't really recall. But he tried harder, until it hit him.

_' It was Shikamaru! He recommended me! I mean, he pointed the perks of me being here!'_

_' Exactly...'_

_' Then...THAT BASTARD HAS KNOWN! He...he has sent me here because...he knows! AM I RIGHT?'_

_' Took ya long enough...now, if you wouldn't mind...leave me alone. I'd like to sleep a little...Oh, one more thing, to summon the Gedou Mazo you need a person either with Rinnegan, or a person who bares both Uchiha and Senju DNA...'_

With that said, the Kyubi left the mind of Naruto and he was standing alone in the forest. Standing simply clueless about the meaning of the last sentence and completely outraged. Shikamaru was so going to get it for not telling him, for lying to him, his close friend, for Kami's sake! And then Temari. She knew about that, one hundred percent. And probably even the others? So maybe that's why they were there. Naruto suddenly felt lonely. Lonely, but in the same time happy. So they came here with him, they were lying to him and were hiding the truth to only preserve him from danger. Or rather, preserve everybody from danger, because if they caught Naruto it would be game over.

And Sakura. And Sasuke. And even Hinata...And let's not talk about the filthy newcomers, meaning Neji, Tenten and Kiba. Naruto frowned once again. He didn't know whether he was right or wrong, whether they really knew about what was going on, or whether Kyubi was just making things up to scare him and revenge for being offended by him. As a response to that thought, Naruto got a growl and shivered. That bastard was still eavesdropping. Yet another growl, this time stronger.

Naruto sighed and sat at the front of the house.

It wasn't cold in that place. God bless Hermione and her extraordinary skills at giving orders to Harry and Ron. And also, God bless Yamato for being a skilled ANBU captain, that knew all the seals, that Kakashi ordered him to activate. And God bless Ronald for being there to remind, that food was needed for basic survival.

_" Naruto."_

It was a shinobi. Nobody could have approached him that quiet, without him hearing. And on top of that, it was a female shinobi. And judging by the voice...

_'' Sakura...''_

The girl sat next to him on the ground, covered in golden leaves. She was covered in a blanket, although it wasn't cold. It made her look frail and little, which somehow was in huge contrast with the power she was holding in just one of her fists.

_" What are you doing here?''_

_" I can't sleep."_ she frowned and looked at her toes. Naruto smirked.

_" Why? Is Sasuke snoring again?" _

Sakura chuckled lightly.

_" Not as much as you..." _

_" What is it, Sakura-chan?" _

_" Nothing in particular. Just one of those sleepless nights. And since I had nothing better to do, I decided to keep you company. We haven't been alone in a long time, Naruto. I miss having my best friend around." _

_" Don't tell this to Ino, she'll go berserk."_ Naruto smiled and looked at the starry night. Then his eyes flashed back to Sakura and the thought of occusing her right now , at that moment, appeared in his mind as fast as a lightning.

_" Yeah, she'll probably kill me."_ Sakura agreed. _" But you know it's true, Naruto. I am your best friend. And as a good one I see that something is troubling you. You could always share it with me, you know? I might be able to help." _

_" You don't seem much better than me, though...it seems like you have your own tribulations." _

_" Everybody has his own ones..._" she nodded and Naruto didn't say anything, which was highly unusual for him. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "_ Hey, what is it,foxie? You can tell me, you know?"_

Naruto examined the determination on her face. he knew that expression too well. Once she put it on there was no way of slacking off. He rolled up his sleeves and leaned backwards.

_" Did you know about Tsunade and Shikamaru's plan to send me off on this mission just to hide me from the Akatsuki?" _

The flash of confusion wasn't missed by naruto as it hit her face. She looked at him kind of worried, as if he was talking nonsense, but then her features relaxed.

_" No. I really didn't. I was as surprised as you to hear about that war thing going on...Sasuke didn't know either. He would have told me."_ she hurried to add, as Naruto opened his mouth again.

_" So if she hasn't told you, then the others don't know, either...except for Shikamaru." _

_" Yeah...except for Shikamaru..."_ Sakura sighed but then grinned. _"You know, I sometimes think she likes him more than her own apprentice, me! I say we strangle him in his sleep!" _

_" So totally in!"_ Naruto grinned back and was really happy to share this moment with Sakura. He really hadn't spent much time with her lately. She was always on missions, due to her higher rank. And he and Sasuke were simply training in Konoha just like the two most retarded people, since their trainings always ended up with some of them, mostly, actually, both of them, being barely able to walk from their fights and later, ramen or miso soup.

_" Hey, Naruto...what do you think is happening?" _

_" Huh? What do you mean?'' _

_" It's weird, isn't it? War is starting here, in this world. And war is starting there, in our world. At the same time. It wouldn't have anything to do with Orochimaru. He's dead..." _

_" You're so wrong..."_ another, new voice added and Sakura jerked her back to face ehr boyfriend, whose face was only inches away from hers. _" And I don't snort, by the way. I was awake the whole time. Ooh, and about killing Shikamaru. I'm in, too. He's stolen my sandals. I think. Or probably it was Kakashi. I don't know. Let's just kill somebody..." _

The girl smiled at him and pushed herself closer to Naruto to make him place on the ground, not that it wasn't a whole forest or something...

_" What do you mean 'wrong'?"_ Naruto asked with a frown._ "Isn't he dead after Granny-" _

_" No."_ sasuke shook his head and he was bearing a really blank expression. He released Sakura and with his free hand covered the Curse Mark that was on the base of his neck. Sakura bit the inner side of her cheek. Of course Orochimaru was still a threat! He was living in Sasuke! _" I am not the only one with that mark. I can keep his power under control but there are weaker ones, who have probably already fallen to his might. There is a rather huge possibility, that he's out there right now, pulling the strings of this show...'' _

Naruto went silent again. Sakura didn't say anything either. She was sitting between her two most precious people. The love and the sun of her life. She hung her hands around the boys' necks and pulled them closer.

_" It doesn't matter."_ she whispered and felt them both tense, ready to argue. She tightened her grip around their necks, which would have been fatal for somebody who wasn't used to her strength._ " I said it doesn't matter. We're here, together...what else matters?_

* * *

_" Freaking idiots..."_ the voice in the shadow hissed and unrolled the second scroll._ " Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei"_

Nothing happened and the guy in the darkness hissed once again. It wasn't working. So these Konoha bastards have found out how to stop the summons. They have found out, that by sealing the souls, the people couldn't be raincarnated once again. There wend Deidara and Sasori. He threw the two scrolls away, in the background and looked around the cave. There was no trace of him. So why not experimenting something?

Kabut grinned evilly and took another scroll, one that would definitely bring success and cause damage upon the konoha shinobi. Or at least one of them. And not with power, but with feelings...He bit his finger, that smug and nasty smile still on his face.

_" Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei..."_

* * *

**I hope you liked it, it isn't long, but I wasn't in the mood either, so, yeah...**

**To that anonymous review, that I DIDN'T APPROVE, no freaking lemons in this story, sorry, dude...If you want to fascinate yourself like this,_ ahem_, you could find plenty of stories for horny teenagers out there, but not in here, not in 'Mission: What!'...sorry, it simply isn't a story that is about relationships and stuff, but more like the action...which isn't working exactly the way I planned it to until now, but it will, I promise :D**

**However, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEEEEEEEW, I like to hear what you have to say, but some of you probably are too lazy to move their fingers on that keyboard, right? :)**

**Well, that's it, bye!**

**xox**


	16. Chapter 16

** I hope you'll like it :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 16_**

" So, what will happen now?" Hermione pursed her lips and looked at Gaara, who was creeping the shit out of her. After they heard what has happened in the shinobi world, about the war that was about to start there, too, Hermone wasn't sure, whether that guy, who claimed to be one of the five leaders of the countries there, would stay here. Obviously, it wasn't only her, who was wondering, since Naruto and also Sasuke stared at him.

" Naruto, understand, you have to come with me and Kankuro!" Gaara said, very harsh, but yet somehow beggingly.

" No." the blonde closed his eyes and let his arm slide on Hinata's shoulder. Sasuke smirked.

" Understand, that you are in danger here!"

" I don't care."

" Um.." Ron whispered, causing everybody to avert their eyes towards him. " How come he'll be in danger here, since there are barely any other people like you and well, if you want to bring him back to Japan, you'll basically lead him to the trap."

Sakura turned back to Gaara with raised eyebrows and a smug smile, as well as Ino. Hinata only nodded and Kakashi turned to the next page of Icha Icha.

" That was pretty smart, Ronald." he noted , without moving his eyes from the book. " I am afraid, Gaara, that you will have to return home without Naruto, who obviously prefers to stay here."

At that part, the blonde frowned.

" I don't _want_ to stay here. I want to go there and help, but I'm on a mission and I just can't leave like this. Besides...I have to kill Shikamaru first..."

Said boy hurried to hide behind Yamato, who smirked.

" Duty before honor, yeah, yeah, right..." kankuro rolled his eyes. " But you must..."

"...understand that I will be safer there. That, as Ron kindly pointed out, is clear bullshit." Naruto interrupted him and kicked the earth with the tip of his sandals. " Why don't you simply go home and protect your people. Even if they do find me here, they will never be able to even get near me. As if I'd let them. Besides, Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taicho are here. As well as Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Shikamaru and Tenten! Do you think that exactly these Konoha shinobi will let the safety of the Hidden Countries go down? I mean, just look at them...Hell, even Tenten can handle those zombie freaks."

" Oi, baka, what is that supposed to mean?!" the girl hissed and threw him a nasty look, which he answered to with a grin.

" Sorry...However, you understand what I mean, right? With my comrades around, there is simply no chance of them laying a finger on me. And even if they somehow find me alone...Well, Ero-sennin and Bee were quite good teachers, ya' know? "

" Bee-sama is well hidden by the Raikage!" Gaara snapped and Sasuke growled in response.

" Well, the Raikage is Bee's brother! And on top of that, he is his Kage! He can do whatever he wants with Bee! And you are the Kazekage. And Naruto's Kage is the Hokage! Well, if the order was given by Tsunade, he would have had to come back, but I doubt he would have. So now, if you want him to go back so badly, then consult with Tsunade-sama first and then come back. But I doubt you'll make it in pieces if she hears what you think..."

The two teens had a glaring-fight. They still haven't gotten over that stupid chuunin exam, Sakura realized and pouted. Eventually, however, Gaara broke the tension and looked at Naruto.

" If they appear again, you're coming back to the Hidden Continent! I shall make a deal with tsunade about this."

" She won't listen to you." Kiba said and patted Akamaru's back. " As Sasuke said, you better find better arguments, because if you plead with those, she'll beat you to a crisp. And that wouldn't exactly help your nation."

Kankuro looked at his brother with his hands on his hips.

" Maybe you should give them a go." he tried, but gaara grunted.

" Fine. But you will have temari and Kankuro stay with you. Since all of you try to protect Naruto, which I'm highly grateful for, usually, but not now, you'll try to cover him every time possible. Which means, that if the Akatsuki appear, you'll try to lie in the reports. And having temari and kankuro around would be safer. At least I will know what's going on around. Send me a report every week, with your exact location and exact descriptions of all your actions and battles. Am I clear, you two?"

he was staring at his siblings, who both nodded.

" But I don't bring my stuff." Kankuro complained and looked at his brother, who nodded to the sky.

" Here. Summon scroll. Once I'm back I'll attach your puppet scrolls to the formula of this one, so you'll be able to summon them any time."

" Hn. It isn't only about puppets. I would have liked to have at least one pair of boxers, but however, I'll steal from somewhere..."

Harry and ROn carefully looked towards the house, as if they were wondering, whether kankuro would find their own underwear in Hermione's little handbag. Once the said shinobi saw their expressions, he growled.

" Not from you! From some shop!"

" But that's...not right..." Hermione protested, but Ino laid a hand on her shoulder, since temari rolled her eyes.

" Honey, get over it. Nothing we do is right! We steal, we lie, we hurt and we kill without blinking. And you'll have to live with that thought, because if I'm staying here, I wouldn't want to have little creatures with not much mental luggage and raging hormones whine all day about stealing a pair of boxers from some stupid non-wizarding shop, that has nothing to do with either of our worlds!"

" Let's stop talking about my boxers, OK?" Kankuro interrupted everything, with a slight blush on his face. Gaara was staring blankly at Sasuke, who seemed to become angrier with every second. Naruto smirked at the reaction of the Sunagakure shinobi, as well as most of his other friends. The only one, who noticed Hermione, though, was Sakura.

The girl was pale, her eyes widened, she was still looking at Temari shocked, her lips trembling.

" What is it?" the rosette asked her, highly concerned. The witch tried to get a hold on her movements and looked away.

" Nothing...I just...I just realized, that she is right. If we're about to start this, about to try and destroy Voldemort, if we're about to wander aroundl...there's no way possible, that we wouldn't steal and lie, that we wouldn't hurt and kill...I...I don't want to injure people. I don't want to cause them pain, but in order to help Harry...I will...I will have to."

" There is no need to destroy your perfect record, dear..." Sakura sighed, her voice sounding really empty. " That's why we're here, after all."

" Sakura, you have your own fights..." the witch shook her head, finally noticing, that she was alone with Sakura, that the others were gathered in a circle, where the redheaded kage was giving his siblings orders. " You still have to fight the Akatsuki. And you have to also deal with that war in your world. And we...me, harry and Ron...we can do it alone, but...knowing you, you would never let us...which I'm really happy for. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here. I would probably have already gone nuts..."

" Well, you are absolutely right. There's no chance that we'll ever leave you, until you finish with your job. And then, even after that, we won't leave you. We may be a little farther than usual, but you'll know that we'll be with you. Right?" Sakura smiled and pointed hermione's chest. The girl wasn't stupid. Besides, she's known Dumbledore for six years. She immediately understood, that Sakura meant love. And a smile rushed to Hermione's face, making her face lighten up.

" You know what, Sakura? You're right. It's like Shikamaru said, right? When you have friends, you can also urge to do he impossible!"

" Exactly...now let's go before Gaara uses that Desert Coffin thingy..."

" Desert Coffin?"

Sakura nodded and lead the witch to the circle, where gaara was looking extremely angry, as well as Sasuke. And having both of them be angry...

_Shit,_ Sakura thought and hurried to catch Sasuke's hand, _why are they so childish?!_

Maybe because they still were children, somehow...the answer rushed into her mind and she frowned. Yeah, being ninetten wasn't exactly what one normal person would call an adult. But being a shinobi was a completely other thing. When you were a shinobi, even at the age of twelve, you're considered an adult, a person, who's close to death, even...But still, they still were young...

" What happened? Again?"

" Sasuke challanged Gaara..." Naruto laughed it off and Sakura frowned. What was that idiot thinking? To her delight, the redhead turned his back to the group of shinobi.

" Not today, Uchiha. I wouldn't want to leave Naruto with one guard less..."

And with that said, he disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving a very frustrated Sasuke behind, who was surrownded by laughing ninja and three wizards, who were wondering whether that guy was really that powerful.

" The nerve..." Sasuke whispered. " Oh, the nerve..."

* * *

" We should protect the locket, now that we have it." Harry said and pointed at the medallion in Kakashi's hand.

" And by protecting, you mean destroying, right?" Naruto wrinkled his nose and the boy pouted.

" Well, we tried everything we could, but it didn't work, did it?"

" Well, the three of you tried everything..." Ino laughed. " But we didn't have a go, right?"

Harry's face lighted up again. Well, of course! Voldemort's magic was nothing to their powers! He smiled, as Kakashi laid the medallion on the ground and smiled at Sakura through his mask.

" Give it a go..."

The rosette grinned and stood in front of the jewel, looking at it, as if it were a pitiful rabbit, that was about to get killed and shoved in a stove. She then raised her hand and stomped it back on the medallion.

Hermione coughed because of the dust, that surrounded the spot. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew, that the whole rock and also the ground around was in pieces because of the powerful punch. the fact, that a little, tiny, fragile girl like Sakura beared such power, was able to amaze her yet again. But the fact, that the girl started ballyragging and breaking every tree around, made Hermione frown unhappily. Fragile...no, scratch that...probably monstrous and scary.

" Sakura! Enough!" Sasuke outshouted her violent groans. He hurried to catch her hands, right before she destroyed the next tree in the line. " What's going on?"

" I couldn't destroy it!" she growled in response, but hung in his arms tiredly.

" So what? There's so many of us!" Sasuke said calmly, but wrapped his other hand around her too, feeling her need.

" It's not about that! I mean..."

" Is it because of your ego, Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned and then looked reverently at the crater she had created. " Because I can damn sure tell you that your punch is unbeatable, as always..."

" It's not about my ego, you dumbass!_ It's because I promised them! I...I...we can't help them with something we can't do..._" sakura said quietly, switching languages, so that only her friends could understand her.

The effect of her words was immediate. In the middle of the crater, she Naruto and Sasuke were standing, he raven haired guy wrapped around her in a protective way. The two boys stared at each other, before clenching their teeth and turning back to their teammate. Sai and Kiba had their mouths open in confusion. Ino and Hinata were biting their lips. Shikamaru, Neji, Tenten and Temari were simply looking with furrowed brows. Kankuro was looking quite smug, despite the situation and the two adults were simply staring at nothing in particular, but it was obvious that they were thinking about it. And the three wizards...they were unaware of what she'd said, because it has been merely a whisper, supposed to be heard only by the shinobi.

_" What do you mean, we can't do it?_" Naruto asked, ignoring the lump in his throat.

_" Everything! They deal with something unknown to us! We know nothing about horcruxes and...and...and deviding souls and...we...we can't deal with something that is even uncommon for them."_

_" Sakura, that's not...you're wrong! We always find a way, right? That's our job, after all..."_ Sasuke muttered.

_" Well, if you ask me, fighting undead, dead people is quite uncommon for us, too, but we managed to deal with it, right?_" Ino interfered by jumping in the crater, followed by their other comrades.

_" It's different."_ Sakura hissed. _" Despite their...condition...they were shinobi! And shinobi we've already fought, on top of that! And...we...I mean...if it weren't for Gaara we wouldn't have done it in time!"_

_" Sakura..."_ this time it was Kakashi, who interfered. He has closed his book, which meant that he was quite serious. _" ...what's your point?"_

_" It sounds to me that she's calling us weak..."_ Ino said with raised eyebrows and a taunting smile, but she was ignored by everybody, except for Tenten who glared at her intensely.

_" It's not that...It's just, that we're here. And we promised to help them with destroying their fiend. And...we can't...I mean, I can' even destroy this stupid locket!"_

As she said that, everybody turned to see the shining golden medallion with the green S. Naruto laughed.

_" So what? You couldn't destroy that one. But maybe you'll be able to destroy the next part. Maybe it's like...it's like chakra types, right? Maybe some of them could be destroyed by wind-type shinobi, others-by earth-style shinobi."_

_" That's nonsense..."_ Neji spoke, but Shikamaru raised his hand.

_" No, Naruto is right. Maybe the parts are divided in some special way. And if it isn't about the element types, then it must be something else. There must be something, that...I don't know...let's all of us try and if someone manages to destroy it, no, when someone manages to destroy it it will make some sense. I will manage to think of something."_

With that said, they returned to the top of the crater with only one jump. Hermione looked at them with big brown eyes. Ron was still gawking at the crater, while harry was frowning at the sight of the complete locket, that was still lying in the middle of the dirt down there.

" It's obvious, that raw power won't work...Ino...why...why don't you try entering the...the mind of the inside of that thing. Maybe you'll make it open. And once it opens, we'll be able to destroy it for sure."

" Roger that, boss!'; the blonde smiled and after she disappeared for a second, she was once back there, holding the locket between her fingers. She then smiled at Kiba. _" Hold me, 'kay? "_

_" Always, baby."_ he faked his voice, but positioned his hands behind Ino, ready to catch her once her mind was out of her own body.

She shoved the locket into Hinata's hand. She let it rest on her palm, while Ino performed her hand-sign and concentrated hard.

_"Shintenshin no Jutsu"_

And then she was flying. The so common feeling of entering somebody. But it wasn't the same. She noticed something like a gate in front of her. Well, normal minds didn't actually have gates to go through, but she shrugged. She tried to open it, but it was closed. There was a lock. Ino rolled her eyes and concentrated chakra in her foot, ready to stomp it on the lock. But then there was the voice.

_" Ino..."_

She gasped. What was that? Why was Kiba there? He approached her from the other side of the gate. he had a really big smile on his features. A big one and nasty, too. He wasn't wearing a top, so she let her eyes slide on his abs.

_" Kiba...what are you..."_

_" Ino..."_ he repeated again and touched the gate from his side. Ino smiled.

_" Kiba! That's right! Unlock the gate! Unlock it! I don't know how you managed to enter, but unlock that thing and let me enter!"_

_" Why would I let you enter?"_ he asked, his brows furrowing in taunting grimace. Ino frowned and touched the gate in front of him.

_" Seriosuly?...Like...Seriosuly?!"_

_" Yes."_

_" Kiba, stop joking around!"_ Ino whined, but tensed once again. He wasn't alone. There was a silhouette behind him. A tiny one, compared to his. And a really common one. The girl behind him wrapped her hands around his bare chest and planted a kiss on his neck. Her pink hair was falling down his shoulder, as she climbed on his back. Her legs were bare. And Ino suspected, that she actually wasn't wearing anything, because she could see her bare shoulder, as well.

Sakura was wrapped around Kiba like a snake. Planting kisses on his neck and face. And INo simply couldn't move. What was that? Why would Sakura do that? And why would Kiba let her? She didn't feel her eyes widening, but they had at some point. They even started watering, when the rosette looked at her and then smirked evilly.

_" Ino...such a surprise..."_ the rosette turned to Kiba. _" You didn't tell me we had guests? I should have...put something on..."_

Ino jerked.

_" What the hell are you two doing?"_

_" Oh, you mean this?!"_ Sakura asked and kissed Kiba's earlobe, not looking away from Ino. The boy grunted happily, while holding her legs in front of him, keeping them wrapped.

_" Sa-Sakura, stop!"_

_" Why would she? It's fun..."_

_" Kiba...why are you doing this?!"_

Ino felt the tear slide down her face. Sakura only laughed and continued tracing her way to Kiba's lips with kisses.

_" What's wrong with doing this?"_ he retorted. _" Wouldn't you enjoy doing this? Or...is it that you want to be in Sakura's place right now?"_

_" Kiba..."_

_" Or...is it because you understand, that she makes me way happier than you did..."_

_" Kiba, n-no..."_

_" ...because she pleases me better than you did..."_

_" Ki-Kiba..."_

_" ...just because she is all I need?"_

Sakura crushed her lips on Kiba's. And that's all that mattered to Ino right then. She screamed out an agonized 'NO', before kicking the lock with all her force. And then she screamed again, this time in agony. She was flying again. Flying and flying, because something has pushed her.

" INO! INO, wake up! INO!"

She opened her eyes and breathed in. Oh, the air. It was so amazing. And the sun! So warm! And then there was Kiba's concerned face, his strong hands around her, so loving and gentle.

" KIBA!" she hung around his throat and let the tears slide down her face. " It was...it was all fake...it was...I-I..."

Kakashi exchanged glances with Sasuke, who was still looking at the crying blonde disapprovingly.

" What happened?"

Ino looked up to only glare at the person, who asked. It was, of course, Sakura. Ino broke out of Kiba's hands and stood on her shaky feet. She pointed at Sakura with her index finger and started with a threatening voice.

" You better stay away from Kiba, am I clear? If I see you watching at him, speaking with him or flirting with him, I don't care whose apprentice you are or who your freaking boyfriend is, I swear I will rip your head off!"

" Ino!" Hinata gasped, while Sakura was looking at her friend with a shocked, really hurt expression. Sasuke didn't look exactly pleased, either. He stared at Sakura for a while, and then he averted his eyes towards the Inuzuka.

" I haven't-" Sakura started, but Ino sighed.

" I know. It's just a warning."

" What the-" harry started, but Hermione shook her head.

" It's because you saw something...unpleasing in there, right?"

And by unpleasing, everybody understood something that involved Kiba and the poor Sakura, something that would upset Ino...Hinata looked away, blushing.

" Exactly." Ino confirmed and returned at Kiba's hands, throwing the locket away from her. " Anyway, I tried entering. It's protected and I couldn't make it."

" So it isn't a mind-type either..." Hermione said and Shikamaru nodded.

" Then there's no point of Sasuke and kakashi-sensei even trying. And as we said, raw power is useless, which excludes each and every one of us...It doesn't have vital points, so the Byakugan is pretty much useless, too. Which means, that we should find another way..."

" Not so fast..." NAruto interfered and grinned. " I won't let the chance to try out my new power slip between my fingers. I mean,even if the Kyubi's chakra is unable to do anything about it, we can stop, but...let's try, OK?"

All of the shinobi, as well as the wizards stared at Shikamaru, who sighed and nodded lightly.

" It won't hurt to try, I guess."

And after that, Naruto grinned and clapped his hands together, letting the powerful chakra of his new friend wrap around him.

* * *

**Well, guess that's it for today! :)**

**Please, review and give me ideas/share your wishes!**

**See ya soon! **

**xox**


	17. Chapter 17

** I hope you'll like it :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 17_**

" What?!" Naruto whispered and after a quick glimpse at the perfectly whole locket, hit it again, with much more force than before. " WHAT?! No way!"

" Stop wasting your chakra. It's obvious, that it won't work against this stupid thing." Tenten caught the boy by the elbow and pulled him away from the jewelry.

But Naruto wasn't only stubborn. He was extremely stubborn. He jerked his hand, so that Tenten's would fall and then concentrated.

' Oi, Kurama.'

' Don't call me like that.' the angry, scary, kind of bored voice of the Bijuu answered after a deep growl.

' Whatever. Do you know something about horcruxes? I mean, magic stuff in the world of wizards?'

' I know as much as you do.' Naruto shook his head disappointed, until the Bijuu growled again. ' But if you're that stupid, than you shouldn't even have the right to bear chakra. And on top of that-mine!'

' Stupid? What do you mean?' Naruto asked, pretty sure, that the Kyubi would answer him, give him something really awesome, that he could later brag around with.

' I mean, that if you can't destroy it, that even I can't destroy it...then it must have some sort of secret. Think about its owner. What was he like? And think about the two fake locket...especially about the one, that was Orochimaru's.'

' What does that have to do with destroying the damned thing?'

' Figure it out yourself.'

With that, their conversation ended and Naruto opened his eyes, to only realize, that once again, his conversation with the tailed beast has been no longer than only a second. Well, not much help from him, though...He turned to hermione with a visible frown.

" Don't you have something in any of your books about making that stuff to ashes?!"

" Nothing I can think of...well, at least not anything we'll be able to do. I mean, Harry destroyed a horcrux at his second year with the tooth of a Basilisk. But we don't have a giant snake around, so..."

" Did you say a giant snake?" Sasuke's head snapped and he looked at the three wizards. " I have a giant snake. And by the way, a Basilisk? Really? They're lame..."

" They can petrify you with only looking you in the eye!" Ron protested, but Sasuke snorted.

" So? All of us can do that...well, almost..."

_" Wait...how..."_ Ino started, but Kiba looked at her incredulously.

" Genjutsu. Or paralysis jutsu...Jeez, Ino, their world is affecting your brains!"

Ino blushed a little, but continued on staring at Sasuke as if nothing has happened.

" So you say, that Harry destroyed a horcrux with a snake fang?" Well, I could get you one."

" It should be really poisonous and well, deadly." Ron summarized with hand gestures, but Sasuke wasn't looking at him. He was already biting his thumb. He pushed his palm against the ground, whispering his summoning jutsu. And then, out of nothing, in a huge dim of smoke, a large blue snake with green eyes appeared.

" Holy - ...What the hell is that? You own a Basilisk?!" Harry whispered in awe.

" It's not a Basilisk. f it were, we would have been stones by now..." Hermione objected, staring right into the green eyes of the huge snake.

" That's Aoda." Sasuke said and looked at the snake hesitantly, then at the locket in his hand. " He's my own personal summon."

" Personal what? So well, Naruto gets to summon toads and you have snakes? Well, I guess it's obvious who the winner is in this round..." Ron muttered, still gawking at the snake, that was kind of bowing to Sasuke. Naruto clapped once.

" I know, right? Toads are much cooler than those freaky venom machines!"

" You got it wrong..." Ron muttered and Naruto stared at him, trying to think of a nasty way to get it back for this rudeness. However, it was Aoda's hiss, that made him turn around.

" Ssssasuke-sssama! How may I help you?"

" You see that here?" Sasuke threw the locket on the ground in front of him and Aoda. " Destroy it. Use your venom."

" Right..."

The snake wasn't only big. It was also fast, which didn't surprise any of the wizards. They've known the shinobi for more than an year now. Nothing could catch them off guard. Except for the fact, that the snake curled up at the instant, that its fang touched the surface of the golden locket. They looked directly at Sasuke, who has received a few hisses from Aoda.

" What is it?" Harry asked, impatient, as always.

" He can't do anything..." the Uchiha muttered darkly and the intention to kill was lying somewhere between his words. " I really don't know...there isn't a seal, that's keeping the damned thing closed. And there also isn't any kind of a magic barrier, then -"

" BUT OF COURSE!" Shikamaru stood on his feet and rushed over the locket. " You're a genius, Sasuke."

" I'd usually accept that, but now...why am I a genius?"

" We have to open it first! But...that might be a bit of a fail, right?" Shikamaru frowned once again and turned to the giant snake " You have some sort of a pitchlock?"

" Stop messing around." Neji pushed him, while Sasuke turned around and dismissed Aoda.

" I have an idea." Kakashi stepped in, his book wasn't in the way, which was a really amazing sign. Everybody turned to him, to hear something really thoughtful and meaningful, only to be disappointed. " Why don't we let Shikamaru think about it for a while, while we go get something to eat?"

" I'm in!" Naruto cheered and hurried to stand beside Kakashi. HE was quickly followed by the wizards, by most of the shinobi, leaving only Sasuke and Shikamaru behind. The Nara was staring at Kakashi incredulously, while they were going back inside of the house. And Sasuke was looking at the medallion as if he were trying to burn a hole in it just by watching. Burn a hole in it...just by watching.

" Let me try the Sharingan, OK?" he said quietly and before even getting an answer, he activated the Kekkei Genkai and stared right into the locket...

* * *

" You can't possibly think, that you could win a game with Neji around, do you?" Tenten laughed, as she threw her cards on the wooden table. Neji simply looked innocently at her, with wide, white eyes and a pout.

" You know I'm not cheating...a lot."

" Ha!''

Hermione rolled her eyes at the card game, that Tenten, Neji, Ron and Kiba were having. Hinata and Naruto were standing at the corner, looking really serious. They were talking really quiet, even for the shinobi standarts. Sakura was somewhere, nagging with Ino about her weird fantasies and Temar and Kankuro were somewhere missing, probably chatting about the level of lameness of the wizards. And then there were Sai, kakashi and Yamato, who was trying to arrange a perfect fountain for Kakashi.

She didn't look exactly pleased, that she hadn't been invited to the 'thinking group'. But then again. Probably even Naruto was smarter than her. They were that good. And it was making her feel really useless. Which she was trying her best not to be.

" You look down." Sai declared, but didn't look up from his scroll. " Are you on your period?"

Whatever thoughts Hermione has had in her head, they all vanished. She also obviously lost control over her actions, since her jaw dropped and she stared at him abruptly. Until the guy with the brush was rolling on the ground after a really harsh, really powerful and pleasing ( for Hermione ) 'Smack'.

And Sakura was breathing heavily behind him, her pink locks falling on her forehead. Ino was clicking with her tongue beside her, watching Sai, who was stretching the back of his head, where Sakura's fist had made a contact with his body.

" YOU IDIOT! You can't ask a lady about something like this!"

" But I read in a book, that you, females, tend to be changing moods when you are on your period. And this morning Hermione has been happy, then she was concerned, now she's sad and depressed. It has to be it."

" Even if it is, Sai!" Ino said, much gentler than Sakura. Sai smiled fakely. " You just can't ask something like this. You keep such questions in your mind. It's as if...as if..."

" As if somebody's asked you whether you had morning wood or not! It's simply not acceptable to ask!"

Sai looked at the outraged, frowning Sakura. And with all his insolence, he nodded and smiled again.

" I did, in fact. It was -" He didn't get to finish his sentence, because he ended up on the grounding, holding onto his chin, this time, a really painful expression on his face. " Kami, Sakura, I think you broke my jaa-OH! You did, yeah..."

" And I am not going to heal it for you, you bastard!" the rosette turned around and unceremonally left the room.

After she was out of her sight, Ino sighed.

" Come here, big boy...But don't tell her, although she'd find out anyway."

Hermione was watching and there were no words coming to her mind. The only thing she could think of right now was ' Oh God." And why? Because every single male in the room was with eyes averted towards her. Everybody, except for Kakashi and Yamato, of course, which she was really thankful for. And as she was staring, Ino pulled Sai and touched his jaw with her green-glowing-hands. It was beautiful, that light. Hermione wondered if it could heal a broken heart. Because that's what she needed. She missed her friends. She missed the people from the Order and from Dumbledore's Army. She missed Hogwarts. She missed Hogsmeade. She missed Dumbledore and Lupin. She missed the Burrow. She missed her own home in London. She missed her parents. She missed...hell, she even missed Draco and his nasty comments. In a few words, she missed her old life. She really didn't want to be in such a situation. She didn't want there to be a war between her best friend and the fiend of the magical community. But hell, that's been her luck. Why the hell did Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley have to save her from that mountain troll six years ago? What if that creature has killed her back then?

Ron and Harry would have been death. She thought about it with a smirk in her mind, kind of flattering herself mentally.

But then again, she didn't regret any second of it! They were the two people she loved most, aside from her family. Actually, they were like a part of her family and she loved it! But still, why did a member of exactly her 'family' have to be the chosen one? Why couldn't it have been Neville?

" Hey, what is it? You really look down." Kakashi commented, not looking away from his little book.

" It's nothing. Just thinking. Searching for the point of life..."

" I've been doing this my whole life and I still have found no answer."

" Probably that's why you're always that lazy." sakura commented from somewhere. Hermione hasn't realized exactly when the rosette had sulked back into the room.

" I am not lazy. You see, what's the point in doing stuff when there's no point. Since you'll die someday anyways..."

" Ah, so that's why you're always late for our arrangements." Naruto added. " You are searching for the point of life and are thinking about dying. Interesting."

" Actually. Yes. " Kakashi nodded. " I've even told you before. I often get..."

"...lost on the path of life..." Sakura sighed. " We know...now that I think of it, it's a pretty good excuse. I'll try it sometime."

" Well you better find yourself some time for that later..." sasuke barged in, followed by Shikamaru. They had some weird grimaces. Some mixtures from smugness, fear, concern and happiness. The locket was swinging back and forth on the kettle. "...because I've found the point of life for the moment."

Shikamaru grinned lazily next to the Uchiha.

" We know how to open it."

* * *

**Weeell, hope you liked it :D**

**You must know, that school started and I'm not really sure, whether I'll be able to update this frequently. So I beg you to excuse me from now on if I take more time than usual, which I probably will...But, hey, there are always the weekends, when I can make it up to you :)**

**Please, review, even if it's just one word. Let me know what you think! **

**Bye! xox**


	18. Chapter 18

** I am so incredibly sorry for this delay. It's so unusual for me, but still, school started and the freaking teachers are obviously trying to prove who's the worst. My bets are on the physics teacher. She's a nightmare, honestly. **

**However, I hope that you will forgive me, thought I highly doubt it...**

**Well, there you go, finally :D**

* * *

**_Chapter 18_**

Tenten has never understood why Shikamaru was always being praised. In her opinion he was highly overrated. Yeah, he was smart, but he wasn't strong enough for a shinobi. And being smart isn't always that important. If you have a katana at your neck you wouldn't exactly have time to think about it, because you'd be dead by the time...until now. She simply couldn't stop wondering how that has happened. They were standing in the forest, all of them gathered around that nasty little locket, that has earlier brought Ino to tears. And she simply couldn't understand what they were waiting for. Neji shot her a knowing, bored look and she grinned.

" I don't actually know if that will work, but once it's open...if it opens...we all attack together...And, Sasuke...bring Aoda back again. We must have a plan B if it doesn't happen."Shikamaru said and turned back to the jewel.

" Wait, once again, how did you intend on opening it?" Ron asked, highly confused.

" We ask it..." Sasuke shrugged. " Politely. In another language."

" And what would that language be?"Harry snorted skeptically. " Voldemorian?"

" We were thinking of Parseltongue." Shikamaru muttered and Harry stiffened. How could he have not thought of that. Voldemort was a parseltongue. So was he. He smiled awkwardly.

" Well, um, you know, I can open it for you, then?"

" You speak the language of the snakes?" Naruto's brows raised on his forehead in shock, when Harry nodded.

" But that means, that you can talk with Sasuke's summons! That...oh, well, I guess that's cool. Kind of. Weird, though." Temari said, but Kankuro frowned.

" I thought only shinobi knew about that. Maybe you are closer to us than the rest of your kind."

" What do you mean 'closer'?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't particulary like kankuro...not that she knew him well, only for a few hours, but still. He was the same as Temari and she wondered, whether all shinobi, who weren't from Naruto's country were like that? She wondered whether even the Konoha shinobi were like that, when they weren't around them. She quickly scratched that from her mind and stared back at the group, where Kankuro was answering her question.

" Whether, you know, some shinobi has found a witch and, well...some of Harry's grandparents came as a result."

" The shinobi are forbidden to leave the Hidden Continent without the document, that has all five signatures of the Kage." Kakashi informed him and eyed the Suna ninja. " And we are the only ones, who have that permission since the first shinobi war. And if I recall my history of shinobi classes in the academy correct, that was long, long ago."

" It was before Konoha was grounded." Sakura looked at her sensei with disapproval. " Some teacher you are!"

" You are changing the subject!" Shikamaru reminded patiently and his eyes drifted off to Harry. He had some second thoughts about the boy's skills with that snake language, but it really would be nice if he could do something. Not that Sasuke wouldn't handle that locket by himself. It was just, that SHikamaru could feel the use of the wizards to do something and he certainly didn't want to make them feel useless. That's why he nodded. " That's OK, Harry. You will do it for us, right?"

Sasuke simply had to look at the Nara once to understand his reasons. The Uchiha prodigy simply rolled his eyes and threw the locket at Harry, who barely caught it.

" Go on. If it opens, lay it on the ground and step back, OK?"

" Yeah...sure..." the boy muttered and adjusted its glasses.

It was obviously too disturbing for him. Why wasn't he smart and didn't leave this simple task to the snake-boy? Like, Sasuke wouldn't have even blinked, while the emotions of Harry were about to explode. He really wanted to open the goddamned thing and get this over with. But another part of him, slightly bigger, feared of what would happen if they managed to open it and couldn't destroy it. Would that part of Voldemort's soul escape and hide in some of them?

No, that was impossible. Not even Voldemort was that good of a wizard. Harry raised the locket and concentrated. What the hell was he supposed to tell a locket? 'Hi. I'm Harry. Would you mind to open up and let us kill what's in you?' The boy grimaced at the thought. And he certainly didn't want to look like an idiot and his parseltongue skills suddenly disappeared and he happened to say this in English. God, it would be such an embarrassment!

" Harry..."

The voice of Hermione reminded him, that he was simply standing there, doing nothing under the gaze of all these shinobi and wizards.

" Right."

Next thing Naruto heard was a series of hissing. It was a sound he knew all too well and he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering to Sasuke. Immediately, he noticed the slight narrow of his eyes and smirked. Yup, Harry definitely was speaking that language. Or Sasuke wouldn't have been concentrated on what he was hearing. And to prove that, Harry dropped the locket to the ground and ran backwards, his eyes already searching for Naruto's.

The blonde cursed in him mind slightly, because his thoughts kept him staying there, last of all. He quickly clapped his hands together.

Just like earlier, Ronald was amazed by the red light that surrounded Naruto for a second and then, when it disappeared, Naruto was the living proof, that orange wasn't just a colour, but a really special and in his case, powerful colour. All of his clothes were in neon orange, except for some symbols on his chest. EVen his skin was glowing in that weird light.

And it was pretty obvious, that this light was giving Naruto some extra powers, since from dead last, he reached the medallion first. Not meet, but crush it with a massive blue ball. When it made contact with the ground, ROn shook on his feet, as if he was experiencing an earthquake. When the shaking was over, ant there was no dust in the air, he dared to open his eyes again. To only find all the shinobi gathered around Naruto, who was scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

" Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura growled, but didn't proceed on hitting him like usually. It took ROn a few minutes to realize, that she was leaning over Kankuro and her eyes were alarmingly green. ROn's brain started working. Somebody was injured.

Obviously, Hermione has been much faster with that assumption than him and Harry, since she was already running towards their circle, while the two boys were still exchanging glances.

" What happened?"

" That idiotic child wanted to be first and look what happened!" Ino was the one to hit Naruto on the head. Hermione and the two boys stared down, where Kankuro was grimacing under Sakura.

" That hurts!"

" If you don't want to have an awry leg for the rest f your life, then I have to merge it now!" Sakura explained softly, a hint of an apology in her voice. Kankuro scoffed, which made the oh-so-caring Sakuro glare at him. " Or would you like to give up on your life as a shinobi, because, trust me, if it's awry you won't be able to move that freely."

" Puppet shinobi don't nee to- OW!"

" Don't need to what?" Temari dared, pointing her little fan, the one without any superpowers, at him accusingly. " Sasori seemed to move pretty well, but that might be just my opinion."

" You know, that he isn't the real Sasori anyways!" Kankuro grunted. " He's a puppet himself, so he is out of the count."

" That doesn't matter, Kankuro! You're my brother and I don't want to see you hurt!"

" As if it's my fault!"

Temari turned to Naruto, who had Sasuke and Kakashi by his side. Sasuke-because he was his best friend. Kakashi-probably because he didn't want any conflicts to occur.

At first, Harry thought, that such vicious woman like Temari wouldn't even think about holding back while beating Naruto up. What she did, thogugh, managed to surprise him. She took her fan out, and without opening it, hit her sibling on the head. Kankuro yelled in surprise and stared at his sister together with Sakura, who was trying to adjust his leg and he wasn't really helping by trying to reach his sister.

" Why you-...What was that for?!"

" Don't try to blame others! It was all your own fault! If you were a good shinobi, you would have withdrawn unless you have wanted to be in the range of Naruto's jutsu. Which, by the way, is pretty impressive."

" Thanks." Naruto grinned, but Yamato's throat clearing caught his attention.

" What about we forget about it for a second...and instead..."

When they looked at him, he was holding up the locket, that was now all crumpled, as if a truck has gone over it. Naruto's face lightened up, while the rest of the shinobi nodded.

" Are we sure it's...safe now?" Kiba asked and threw a really concerned look at Ino, who was still glaring at the jewelry.

" I think...I think it's empty." Sai muttered once he touvhed the locket in the captain's hand. " I don't feel a thing. Just like the two fakes."

" Something's not right." Harry shook his head. " When I destroyed the diary, there was something obvious about the thing dying in it. There was blood coming out of the diary, and Tom Riddle's soul vanished. And this was too...too...too..un-Volde-"

" Don't say his name, please..." Ron interrupted him with a shudder. " He has managed to make a spell, that even some of them couldn't handle. That makes...he's just so...please, don't say his name. I might sound pathetic, but I actually do fear him."

Harry felt the muscle in his jaw clench at his bestfriend's words. However, he was quite reasonable. So he made himself nod once.

" You get my point, though, right? I mean...there had to be something."

" Lika a black soul coming out of the freaking medallion?" Hinata suggested and Harry nodded once again.

" And then it spreads in the air in the form of his ugly face? Yes? Well, that's what happened." Neji stretched. " Too much dust for all of you. Byakugan rules."

" Neji, don't get too full of yourself!" Tenten warned playfully and was soon to be found in his hugs. Harry looked away, a bit relieved. Maybe even calmer and happier.

After only a few more minutes passed by, Kankuro was up on his legs, carefully held by Yamato, who was apologizing to him instead of Naruto. Sakura was looking at Sasuke lovingly, Temari was sneaking somwhere around Shikamaru, Tenten and Neji were out of sight, Hinata and Naruto were giggling, Sai was chatting with Ron and Hermione and Harry was watching the destroyed locket in Kakashi's hand.

" It's over with that one." the sensei told quietly, while Harry sighed heavily.

" Yeah. One down. Three more to go."

And then depression hit him again. He had no idea what and where he was searching for. He had no clue. Nothing. Perhaps he'd have to speak with Shikamaru later on.

* * *

_" ...now go! And make sure that they will see you, my dear!"_

Kabuto finished with his jutsu and when she opened her eyes again, he saw the change. His order was ringing in her head like a bell and he was sure of it, simply because she nodded once again. That caused a smug smile, which he was aware of, to slide on his features.

She was a young girl of fair skin and average height. Just like every other Edo tensei, she had cracks, which Kabuto frowned about. He had more to do until he reached perfection, but other than these cracks it wasn't that bad. She had brown hair, which was cut in a chin-length bob that framed her face, and what used to be brown eyes. Now they were black. She also had two rectangular, purple markings on each of her cheeks. She wore a long-sleeved black top and a light purple apron-skirt, under which she wore black shorts. She also wore the standard Konoha forehead protector, along with a pair of sandals, red stockings that stopped at her thighs, and a small,red bracelet on her left wrist.

Just like she has used to look like fifteen years ago. Just like she'd looked like when she's died.

_" Remember, you only have one mission. Bring down Hatake Kakashi. Only you can do this, since he only has one weakness. And this weakness is you...Rin."_

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**Yup, that's it...trouble ahead! :D**

**I hope you enjoyed it and liked it.**

**I want to warn you. As I said before the chapter, my school is really awful. I barely have time to rest, so if you happen to wait for me longer, then please, excuse me. It really is unintentionally, against my own will. I will try my best, though, to update as soon as possible :)**

**Please, review, even if they're one word reviews! I want to hear what you think and I am really disappointed by the amount of reviews I get. It's a bit of a demotivator...**

**So, now that you know that, I hope you'll do me the pleasure :)**

**Bye! xox**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi, there...I am typing without a plan in my head, with the hope, that it will turn out to be a good one :)**

**I hope you'll like it :)**

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_**Chapter 19**_

Kakashi was sitting on his watching shift, holding the destroyed locket in his hand. For some reason, Harry was sitting beside him, while everybody else was sleeping.

The boy was obviously uncomfortable with being there, since he was constantly looking up to see the sensei's face, thinking, that this movements of his was going unnoticed. How stupid of him Kakashi thought, he should have known better by now, that the shinobi didn't miss a thing. Well, at least him.

" Why are you still awake?"

" I couldn't sleep." the boy answered with a shrug.

Harry didn't think, that the adult would actually start talking, but now that he has, he expected him to order him to go back to bed. WHich Kakashi didn't.

" Where is the next horcrux?"

" I have no idea..." Harry sighed heavily. That was something, that has been bothering him since he left the BUrrow with the others. He only knew about that locket, because of Mundungus. But now what? He didn't even know what the horcruxes were. Harry was more than one hundred percent sure, that Hermione's brain was functioning on this subject even now, while she was asleep. About Shikamaru he didn't know, because probably he would have thought, that Harry actually knew, where the rest of the damned subjects were.

" I see." Kakashi answered and returned his gaze on the destroyed piece of jewelry. " One more thing we should understand. The list is getting pretty long now..."

" Yes. I know. But...I never wanted to drag any of you in this. Actually, I intended to go alone before. I...after I started feeling Voldemort's emotions, I feared, that...I don't know. I simply feared. Not about myself, but about my friends. I didn't want anybody to die because of me. But...I...I guess I am simply pathetic, because I accepted the company of Hermione and Ron. And yours, too..."

" You are not pathetic, Harry..." Kakashi shook his head and inserted the locket in his pocket, then averted his eyes to the boy, who was playing with his wand. " Accepting help doesn't make you pathetic. It makes you wise. Resourceful."

" The problem is, that in this case, this help may end badly."

" In our world, everything may end badly, but yet again, we accept help, because that's how we increase our chances of winning. Of succeeding. And now, think about it. Would you have been able to go to the Ministry and do all the job by yourself?"Harry pursed his lips, since the answer popped in his mind even before Kakashi has finished the sentence. It was a 'no'. No, he wouldn't have managed to do it on his own. Kakashi smirked smugly, or at least that's what it looked like. " See?"

" I know, that when you have friends who help you, you will do better. Shikamaru said it to me once. I think, that up until now, I took them for granted, Hermione and Ron. They were always by my side, but now...you see, I am happy, that they are here right now, as well as you, but I fear, that I might lose some from you. Because I know what he is like and he won't stop until he gets to me, even if it means killing innocent people. Which he already does, by the way..."

" I have a piece of advice for you." Kakashi said, while pulling out a little orange book from his haori. Harry immediately looked up to the teacher to meet his black orb, that was almost hidden behind the silver bangs of hair. " Relax."

" What?!"

" Relax. Take it easy. That's why we're here. We will help you. You only have to give us the information. We have Shikamaru, who will have everything figured in about half an hour. We have Sasuke, Naruto, Sai and Sakura, who are an unbeatable team. We have Hinata, Ino, Kiba, Yamato, Temari and Kankuro. All of them powerful and ready to help. And me. Don't forget, that I'm also on your side. And considering that, I think that you would actually succeed in relaxing a bit. We will figure everything out for you and if you want to, we could take care of everything. And if you prefer, we could leave the last one for you. You could actually avenge everybody by killing your snake bastard. Don't worry about this. As I said, we're here. Now go to sleep, we're moving tomorrow and you have to be fresh."

The boy sighed, simply because the teacher of the ninja opened the book and started reading. That meant, that he either wasn't going to listen to him or he wasn't going to bother with answering. he stood up quietly and after he muttered a low 'Good night', entered the house.

* * *

" You scared the shit out of me!" Naruto narrowed his eyes accusingly, but Harry didn't seem less shocked, maybe because of the kunai, that was touching the skin of his neck and the way Naruto was holding his hand behind his back.

" Hey...hey, remove that thing from my face and...let go!"

" Ah, oh! Err, right, sorry. Thought you were some bandit."

Naruto withdrew and scratched the back of his head. Harry had already understood, that it was a habit of the blonde, to raise his arm and scratch the back of his head, when he was either apologizing or embarrassed. Do he simply shrugged.

" What are you doing up this late?"

" Felt like taking a snack...hey, what are you doing up this late?!" the shinobi retorted, but Harry has noticed the weird orange pajama. Or at least, the bottom of the orange pajama with little ramen cups on it. He couldn't say what was so fun about it, but he thought that it suited Naruto perfectly. And about the top? That's too mainstream for shinobi. The blonde was shirtless, revealing his toned chest and six-pack. He had some scars, really thin and almost invisible, but they were there, which made Harry think, that even the strongest shinobi weren't protected against blades.

" I was talking with Kakashi. Nice pajama, by the way."

Naruto looked down and blushed slightly, then grinned.

" It's a present, actually. Amazing, right? ALthough it reminds me of Ichiraku's...just a reminder, that when we fnish here, I'll get to eat from his hot, amazing, delicious ramen! And...what? Kakashi? Where is he?"

" In front of the house. Reading."

" Again?"

"Again..."

" Typical..." Naruto muttered. " He should be working, but he's slacking off again with that book! Even I am careful, when I am on watch!"

Harry didn't know what he was supposed to answer to that, so he simply looked around.

" What are you going to eat? There's hardly anything!"

" I know..."the ninja whined and stretched. " I am disappointed. Means, that tomorrow we will be moving somewhere else."

" Kakashi mentioned something about this..."

" Really? Well, I better check what he's up to, maybe beat some sense into him. You go to sleep. You need to rest."

Harry frowned. Why was everybody talking to him as if he were a baby? He simply shrugged, because he knew, that Naruto's answer would be something like 'Because you are', and waved goodbye without bothering to talk.

And that's what Naruto was waiting for. Once the boy was out of sight, the scroll he was hiding in his hands was on the table and an evil smirk was playing on his lips, as he was biting his thumb. Oh how long he's waited for the moment.

" Kuchiose no Jutsu!"

In a dim of smoke, his summon appeared, causing his evil expression to slowly change into loving, caring. His one and only love. The bowl from ichiraku's. Such a lovely sight. The scent of the delicious ramen inside of it. That was probably the happiest moment in his life.

And, of course as expected, the content was gone in the matter of a minute.

After he smiled happily, because of the amazing night snack, he sealed the empty cup back in the scroll and headed towards the outside of the house. Kakashi was reading and his hitai ate was lying on the ground beside him, which meant that he was using his Kekkei Genkai. Such an idiot, Naruto thought. To waste his chakra for the Sharingan to only be able to see the words from his written porn in the night? That was so childish.

" You could have spared some for me, you know?"

" No. You know that I don't share my ramen even with Hinata."

" Hmm...So you saw Harry?"

" Yes. You brushed him off just to read, right?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto and the smirk was visible underneath his mask. Naruto has had a plenty of opportunities to take a peak at his sensei's face. But whenever he had them, Sakura was there to ruin everything, by saying, that every person had his rights of privacy. However, something in Naruto jerked. Lying on the ground in the middle of a forest wasn't exactly a common thing for the shinobi. Suddenly, he felt too vulnerable without his top and his full set of weapons.

Naruto, as every other shinob, had a sixth sense. And his was screaming right now. He felt at such a great unease. He had the feeling, that someone was boring their eyes in his bare neck. He turned slightly around, but saw nobody. However, the feeling didn't leave him and he looked at Kakashi, risking to sound extremely stupid, because the barriers of yamato and the spells of Hermione were working when they tested them.

" Kakashi-sensei...I think we're being watched."

" Oh I know."

" Wha-WHAT?!" Naruto jumped to his feet, raising the only kunai he was bringing. " We should wake up everybody! WHat if it's the Akatsuki?! We should move, NOW!"

" I can't believe I'm saying this, but...relax, Naruto! If it were the Akatsuki they wouldn't have been sneaking. They would have been killing us in our sleep. It's most definitely some wizard. Or probably Sakura and Sasuke. Maybe they're trying to make out and we're here, ruining their lovely romantic atmosphere. Or probably Ino and Kiba. Tenten and Neji aren't out of the count."

" Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto hissed, not needing to say, that all these people were upstairs, sleeping, his blue eyes wandering around the trees. " Shoul I remind that there's a war because of the Kyubi inside of me?! I don't want to give up that easily, dattebayo! We should at least check, if the intruder is in the barrier or not!"

The adult closed his book with a heavy sigh and slipped it in the haori once he was up. Naruto, however, tried to show how much of an idiot he was, by stepping forward and screaming.

" Show yourself! We know you're there!"

The blonde didn't expect to sense the chakra as a tidal wave. At first, he thought they were being attacked. But then he realized, that whoever was watching them has been masking their chakra and now he let it go. And obviously, whoever it was, was a shinobi. He suppressed the smug smile, that urged to appear on his lips, as he saw the 'I can't believe he was right' expression on his former sensei's features.

But something else caught his attention. He heard rustling of the leaves of the trees in front of them. Meaning that the shinobi was moving. but not trying to run away, no...he knew that, because the person landed five meters in front of them with such grace, that it was also comparable to Hinata's.

Naruto lowered his kunai because of many reasons. First of all, the person wasn't a shinobi, but a kunoichi. The girl was short, thin, with a childish expression, She wasn't older than fourteen years. Other than that, she was wearing a special haori, with a tied katana. Naruto wouldn't have known what it was, if his pink haired best friend wasn't wearing the exact same one, meaning that this fragile girl wasn't a fighter, but a medic. She was wearing a hitai-ate and the fact,t hat socked him, was that the symbol on the silver plate was Konoha's. SO she was an ally.

Or at least, she has been. Because her face had a few cracks and her whole eyes were black, just like Deidara and Sasori's. This little girl was a reanimation.

However, she was smiling and it wasn't an ironic smile, it was a heartfilled one. That's the reason Naruto seemingly lowered his guard.

The man beside him, though, wasn't on the same opinion, He dropped the weapons he was holding due to the fact, that his hands started shaking at the sight of her. That was impossible. Why was she here? _How_ was she here? She was dead!

He killed her!

But it was a fact, that Rin was standing in front of him, the same as he remembered her. With the difference in her eyes and the few cracks on her face. She was dead, after all. A part of him started wondering, who has reanimated her. She wasn't strong as a fighter, unless she still beared the power of the Sanbi, but that was impossible. But then again, he understood the reason for her appearance. Whoever was pulling the strings knew what effect that girl had on him, Hatake Kakashi. And damn, he knew that right. Because once she stepped, kakashi stumbled backwards, eyes widened in shock and guilt.

Naruto glanced at him for a second and the kunai was up in front of him again. If his sensei was withdrawing, then she really was a threat...She didn't seem like it, though. Well, Tsunade didn't seem dangerous, too, but hell what could she do with only one punch...

The girl, however, wasn't moving towards them. Kakashi saw, how she was holding her arms in front of her skirt, the smile never leaving her face...exactly like he remembered her. And she wasn't even looking at Naruto. She was looking at him, and he couldn't miss the fact, that her smile was the same.

" Kakashi-kun..." she started and tilted her head slightly, the smile widening with love and awe. " ...long time no see...You've changed!"

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**I know it's pretty lame, but yeah...**

**Pretty please, REVIEW!**

**That's all I need for motivation :)**

**Until next time, I wish I will be able to update faster...**

xox


	20. Chapter 20

**We reached chapter 20...finally :)**

**To be honest, I am quite disappointed in the amount of reviews. I really hope, thought, that the ones who started this story with me from the beginning are still there, reading... **

**I shall give my thanks in the A/N below the chapter, but now, enjoy! :)**

* * *

_**Chapter 20**_

Sasuke couldn't get rid of the feeling, that something wasn't right. And much to his own displeasure, he opened his eyes to only groan quietly. Naruto wasn't in the room with them. He looked around, suspecting that the blonde might be around Hinata, but he wasn't there either.

He didn't know why, probably because of his sixth sense or probably just because knew that Naruto was a magnet for everything bad, Sasuke escaped Sakura's grip and stood up.

He took a kunai just in case and headed downstairs. There was a faint odor of ramen and he smirked suspiciously. So Naruto has been here indeed. And not long ago. The only left possibility was outside of the house.

He didn't have to get out to see, that he was right. Why? Because he suddenly felt an unknown wave of chakra. And then there were these two common ones, the one of his fox friend and the one of his teacher. Sasuke knew only, that it only meant trouble. Two of his teammates and an unknown chakra. He hurried to check what was going on to only stay stunned at the door.

The girl was small, thin and smiling. Smiling. She was wearing a Konoha hitai-ate. And she had a medic's katana. She wasn't a fighter, he reached that conclusion easily. But she was a reanimation, judging by her eyes. SO she was a threat, despite Sasuke's first thought about it.

_" Kakashi-kun. Long time no see. You've changed."_

As the girl spoke, Sasuke immediately lost all his motivation for a fight. She had the same voice, that Sakura has had back then. And for Kami's sake, she was merely a kid. And Sasuke just couldn't bring himself to attack a kid. He stared at the son of the WHite Fang, who seemed to be stunned. He wasn't attacking, but was looking shocked. Maybe even scared and guilty. WHo the hell was this girl?

_" What's going on here?"_ Naruto broke the silence and looked around, until he finally spotted Sasuke and his brows twitched, then rested peacefully on his forehead, meaning that he was probably a bit calmer.

_" Rin!_" Kakashi managed to say, startling everybody with his hoarse and weak voice.

In a matter of only three seconds, Naruto and Sasuke were standing on each of his sides, ready to back him up.

Sasuke wasn't an idiot. The fact, that the connection between Kakashi and this girl, Rin, has once been deep, was obvious. And that made the young Uchiha frown.

_" Kakashi..."_the girl said again, her eyes softening. She made a step forward, but the two male teens hissed and took their weapons out. She frowned. _" So what, you have your own personal guard?"_

_" I don't need that...but...look at the situation from our sight...You are an Edo Tensei...and you could attack us at any moment..."_ Kakashi managed to say, then pushed through the boys and actually motioned forward to the girl._ " Rin..."_

_" Now, now...don't go repeating my name as some sort of mantra! It's creepy..."_ she said, the smile never leaving her face.

_"Says the zombie..."_ Naruto muttered, drawing the attention of the little girl, who immediately narrowed her eyes slightly.

_" You do realize, that the zombie is a kunoichi with a rather pleasing hearing range, right? You could have at least whispered...WHo are they, kakashi?"_ she turned back to the white haired man, who was looking as concentrated as ever.

_" Two of my students..."_

_" Students? My, my, Kakashi! I am impressed! To actually think, that you of all people would take somebody under your wing."_

_" You said it yourself, Rin...I changed."_

_" Excuse me, but who are you, little girl?"_

_" First, if I hadn't died, I would have been twice as old as you, so shut up and dare call me a little girl again, I'll scratch out your eyes. And second, I am Rin. I was on Kakashi's teammate."_

Naruto narrowed his eyes, but then h slowly turned to his teacher, ignoring the red orbs of Sasuke.

_" So she was your teammate? Like, you were on a team?"_

_" Yes!"_

_" Oh my goodness..."_Naruto grinned and turned back to the girl. "_Tell me, how does he look like? What's his face like?! Does he have moles? Or bucked teeth?"_

_Rin took a step back at the river of words from the blonde boy. Then she looked at the ground, kind of ashamed._

_" I-I don't really know. I have never seen his face..."_

_" You too? Ooh..."_ Naruto looked down, but then looked back at the young dead kunoichi.

_" But you could tell us all his little, dirty secrets, right?"_

_"Even if I knew his little, dirty secrets, I wouldn't tell them to you!"_ Rin snapped, then looked back at Kakashi, who was gawking at her loyalty. _" And you really do train him? I see why you've taken him, though. Reminds me of sensei a bit. Especially the hair."_

_" Because he is his son..."_ Kakashi coughed slightly when he finally managed to look away from the girl. _" That's Uzumaki Naruto. Or Namikaze Naruto, if you wish."_

_" That..."_Rin's black eyes widened as she looked at the boy and then back at kakashi. _" Oh come on, Minato-sensei's son can't be that much of an idiot..."_

_" My father was your sensei?"_Naruto asked Rin with awe, then turned to Kakashi, this time anger shining in his eyes. _" MY FATHER WAS YOUR SENSEI?!"_

Sasuke smirked in the background. Oh, Kakashi was deep in for some scolding. Maybe a few punches. Well, of course Naruto would be angry. He has never known anything about his parents and to find out that your teacher's teacher has been your father was quite the event. He couldn't wait to see that...but later. The adult and the little girl were completely ignoring them.

_" Kakashi...I never managed to thank you..."_

_"...thank me...what for?''_

_" For killing me."_

Naruto stilled once again and stared at Sasuke. the Uchiha shook his head, indicating, that he knew nothing about what was going on. Kakashi shifter nervously and then fisted his hands.

_" Rin, I never wanted to do it..."_

_" You know, that I loved you, Kakashi. But to be honest, the first on the list has always been Konoha. My home. And I just couldn't have lived through it, if I were the one to destroy it. SO thank you, Kakashi. You made it easier for me..."_

Naruto and Sasuke lanced at each other again. This girl to destroy Konoha? Quite impossible. But that was the cause for them to raise their kunais back up.

_" Rin, I really regret this..."_

_" Don't!" the girl laughed quietly. " After Obito died you were...you were what kept me standing, Kakashi...I mean, if you weren't there, I wouldn't have managed to do it. And then again, they managed to do this to me. They managed to kidnap me and use me against my own home...and, hell, Kakashi, all I wanted at the time was to simply die. And I simply knew, that if you had enough will, you would know what would be best, so I relied on that. It was either you or Minato-sensei. And to be honest, I don't think he would have managed to do it, because he was that kind of person...You were the only one, that-"_

_" No. If Minato-sensei has tried, he would have done it otherwise. He would have lured you away, he would have helped you overpower the Sanbi, he would have saved Konoha and you. And I...I hated myself for so long. I still do. If only I had been stronger, I could have managed to do it, too...I remember the last words Obito told me before we came after you, Rin. Those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than that...well, after everything...after Obito, after you, after Minato-sensei died...I felt, that it was my fault and...and that's when I changed, Rin...I swore to myself, that I would never let this happen again. I decided on having my students and to teach them, what I have learned from all my losses. And none of them really happened to understand the words of Obito...until only five years ago, when these three students came to my own test. They were the only ones, who understood the meaning of friendship. And I simply knew, that whatever was about to happen, they would never be like me. They would never abandon their friends. And to be honest, I think I did pretty well, because they had their own tribulations, but they managed to overcome them..."_

_" Kakashi..."_ Rin smiled and took another step forward, now only being a hand away from the white haired sensei. _" I know. I know that. I believe you...but...look, it may sound harsh, but...forget about it. Forget about the past. Because it only keeps you tied."_

_" No, Rn...the past is what pushes me to work own motivation. The past with you and Obito...those were the best moments of my life, Rin...And I...I never really managed to tell you what he wanted you to know...but now that you're here..."_

_" Huh?"_ the girl furrowed her brows and tilted her head confused.

_" Obito loved you. With his whole heart and soul. And his last wish was that I'd keep you safe and instead I...I killed you..."_

_" So we're starting all over again?"_ the girl sighed and then something like a blush appeared on her cheeks, as she looked back up to Kakashi. _" I know that, Kakashi...but you should also know, that it's always been you..."_

The man seemed hurt. At least, that's what Naruto thought, as he saw the visible parts of Kakashi's face flinch. He has never seen him like this, so...vulnerable. And then it hit him. He gasped and stared at Sasuke.

The Uchiha decided, that if there was a proper moment to kick the blonde Jinchuuriki, it would be now. WHat the hell was he doing? He was rolling his eyes like crazy and for a second, Sasuke thought, that he was having some sort of a flinch. But no, he really didn't understand, what the blonde was trying to tell him. He rolled his eyes himself and then with only one stare filled with chakra, the thoughts of Naruto were clear to him.

Ah, so those weird movements were to make Sasuke read his mind. Stupid, but effective.

Naruto was thinking, that Rin was a decoy. That she'd wait for the perfect moment and then, attack. And after a second of overthinking, Sasuke nodded briefly, returning his gaze on Kakashi. He noticed, how the blonde stilled in his place, he barely moved and Sasuke could almost feel him absorbing the Natural Energy out of this forest. So Sage Mode, huh? Well, Sasuke had his Susanoo' prepared at any time, so he really didn't have to not move or something stupid like this.

_" Rin, who sent you here?" _

The girl seemed startled, as Kakashi changed the subject so quickly. She concentrated for a second, the frowned.

_" I don't know." _

_" And why are you here?" _

She looked around,a s if searching for an answer, then an angry expression rose on her face. And there was a bit of confusion.

_" To take you down. But of course, I wouldn't do that. Anybody who thinks, that I'll ever even try to is a fool. " _

_" No...not a fool, but a genius."_ Sasuke corrected and immediately appeared next to Kakashi. _" A_s_ you s_e_e, Kakashi is in no condition to fight you, because...well, it's you and he obviously can't bring himself to." _

_"He has obviously done so once..."_ Naruto stated,a s he appeared on the other side of Kakashi, the orange surrounding his eyes. "_I don't see what would stop him from doing it again, but whatever..." _

_" You senseless dobe!" _

_" Oi, teme!" _

_" Dobe!" _

_" Teme!" _

_" You know, they remind me of you and Obito..." _

_" Oh, you should see Sakura first..."_ Kakashi said calmly. _" She is a medic, but nowhere near you as it comes to calmness..." _

_" Shouldn't you be a little more concerned, Kakashi-sensei, since she just declared, that she was sent to take you down?" _

_" No, why? You two act as bodyguards anyway..." _

_" That doesn't mean, that you should be lying around." _

WHile the blonde and the white haired man were arguing, Rin was facing her won tribulations. Something in her was making her move against her own will, but she was doing everything possible to suppress it. It only ended with her limbs shaking. Her body took the kunai out and turned itself to Kakashi, who wasn't paying attention to her at the moment. And the, she jumped.

In mid air, she saw three blurred lines and when she landed with the kunai in the ground, there was nobody there. The three shinobi have scattered.

Kakashi looked at Rin and sighed. Those weren't the eyes he has seen only a minute ago. Those were cold and entirely black. She was already under control. As afighter, she stood no chance against them, but Sasuke was right. He simply couldn't bring himself to attack her...until he remembered his mission, his goal,his students, his teachings...the lightning ran on his skin and he made the most difficult step in his life. He jumped from the tree, towards the girl's back.

And only with one movement, his hand was showing from the other side of her body, the effect from the chidori still pumping through his veins.

It hit him like Deja-vu. She looked up to him and he saw the human in her eyes, he saw Rin again. And she smiled.

_" Thank you, Kakashi...put an end to this, finally!" _

Kakashi pulled his hand out, back to his chest, and noticed, how the body started regenerating itself. He looked pained, as he was forming the signs for the sealing jutsu. Rin obviously recognised them, since she leaned in and kissed Kakashi's cheek, before he was finished. And then the ground started wrapping around her feet, while Kakashi was staring at her face, gently brushing the tips of his fingers against her cheek, before pulling away.

_" It's always been you...Rin." _

And then the earth covered her face and the signs of the seal appeared on top of it.

* * *

**Well, yup :D I've always been a massive KakashixRin fan, so yeah :3**

**Now, for all the thanking :D**

**angels2645, Love2readFantasy, DayDreamer666, calleyrose, VelvetRose529, kurifu gari, maxridelover, GamesMaster64, Tarantulaguy, TehZach1993, princessbinas ( I promise there will be more fun parts in this story later, I know you like them better than action and drama and mystery :D ), Katsumi-phoenix, TanukiBloodWolf, Skiing-girl, IceFlower1037, rothfyae, WillowsBreath...**

**Thank you all for reviewing this story and actually sharing your opinions :) I highly appreciate this, I hope you'll continue with your support :)**

**Also, thanks to all the anonymous readers, that actually care enough to type in a quick review!**

**And last, but not least, all the other people, that bothered to click the favorite/follow button! Thank you so, so much! :)**

**I guess that's all I wanted to say, so the only left thing is...REVIEW! **

**I am open for ideas! Like, really, I need some help from you, so make sure to let me know what you expect from this story!**

**And now, since it's almost 3pm here, good night, or rather, good morning :D**

**P.S. OH RIGHT! I JUST REMEMBERED :D ****Make sure to check my new story 'The story of my life' if you're into romance, drama and humor! :)**


	21. Chapter 21

**We reached chapter 20...finally :)**

**To be honest, I am quite disappointed in the amount of reviews. I really hope, thought, that the ones who started this story with me from the beginning are still there, reading... **

**I shall give my thanks in the A/N below the chapter, but now, enjoy! :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 21_**

" Faster, please! Everybody, move it!" Kakashi was muttering, while actually getting farther away from the wooden house. As everybody was beside him, all of his shinobi,as well as the Golden Trio, he nodded to Yamato. With only one hand seal, the house sunk in the ground and after another one, there were a few trees on its place, masking everything.

" Perfect. Now nobody will know we've been here. NOw, do you have a nice place in mind? We could also go back to Grimmauld Place, since we'll beat the crap out of those-"

" Naruto, stop for a second..." Ronald raised his arm quietly and bit his lip, looking hesitantly at Harry, who swallowed and looked like he was about to make the biggest mistake in his life, aka, nervously.

" I've been thinking. I—I want to go to Godric's Hollow. "

Kakashi raised his eyebrows and looked at the shinobi, who all looked as clueless at him. Except for Shikamaru and Sakura. Well, Shikamaru was never surprised due to his IQ level, and Sakura, well, she definitely wasn't stupid...in fact, she had had the highest score on the genin exam, simply because Shikamaru has been too lazy to write anything at all.

" Erm, OK, let's go to Godric's Hollow, whatever this place is! I hope they have better food in there!" Naruto chided and started playing with Hinata's fingers.

" Idiot." Shikamaru muttered and then stepped forward, staring at Harry. " Yes, I've been wondering that too. I really think we'll have  
to."

" Did you hear me right?" he asked, blinking a few times.

" Of course I did. You want to go to Godric's Hollow. I agree, I think we should. I mean, I can't think of anywhere else it could be either. It'll be dangerous, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems it's there."

" Er—what's there?" asked Harry.

At that, Shikamaru looked just as bewildered and annoyed as he felt.

" Well, the sword, Harry! Dumbledore must have known you'd want to go back there, and I mean, Godric's Hollow is Godric Gryffindor's birthplace—"

" Really? Gryffindor came from Godric's Hollow?"

" Harry, did you ever even open A History of Magic?" this time Hermione asked, looking as shocked and offended at the same time. After all these years she'd prepared study calendars for him and ROn they haven't even bothered to follow them! Well, some insolense that was!

"Erm," he said, smiling for what felt like the first time in months. The muscles in his face felt oddly stiff. "I might've opened it, you know, when I bought  
it . . . just the once . . . "

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, not giving his friends the chance to ask him what was going on, while Hermione sighed tiredly.

"Well as the village is named after him I'd have thought you might have made the connection." Said Hermione. She sounded much more like her old self that she had done of late; Harry half expected her to announce that she was off to the library. "There's a bit about the village in A History of Magic, wait . . . "  
She opened the beaded bag and rummaged for a while, finally extracting her copy of the old school textbook. A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, which she thumbed through until finding the page she wanted. "Upon the signature of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several magical families, who banded together for mutual support and protection. The villages of Tinworthin Cornwald, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire, and Ottery St. Catchpole on the south coast of England were notable homes to knots of Wizarding families who lived alongside tolerant and sometimes Confunded Muggles. Most celebrated of these half-magical dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric's Hollow, the West Country village where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born, and where Bowman Wright, Wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch. The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families,  
and this accounts, no doubt for the stories of haunting's that have dogged the little church beside it for many centuries...You and your parents aren't mentioned." Hermione said, closing the book, "because Professor Bagshot doesn't cover anything later than the end of the nineteenth century. But you see? Godric's Hollow, Godric Gryffindor. Gryffindor's sword: don't you think Dumbledore would have expected you to make the connection?"

"Oh yeah . . . "

Harry did not want to admit that he had not been thinking about the sword at all when he suggested they go to Godric's Hollow. For him, the lure of the village lay as his parents' graves, the house where he had narrowly escaped death, and in the person of Bathilda Bagshot.

" Wait a second!" Shikamaru interrupted once again. " So Harry is from there, if I got that right? IS that why you want to go back there?"

The silent nod of Ron, while Harry was staring blankly at nothing in particular made SHikamaru sigh once again.

" You should tell us stuff like this, you idiots..." Sasuke sighed and looked at Sakura. " You knew about the Gryffindor part, didn't you?"

" Kind of."

" And, hey! Remember what Muriel said at the wedding?" Ron spoke, looking unconvinced.

" Who?" Hermione furrowed her brows.

" The one who said you had weird ankles." Ron reminded and then looked extremely scared, as Hermione shot him a glare. " However, she said that Bathilda Bagshot still lives in Godric's Hollow."

" Stop right there!" Kakashi sad loudly, interrupting the Weasley, maybe even startling him a little. " Let me summarize everything, OK? So, we've got this place, Godric's Hollow. Gryffindor has been from there. Harry is from there. And this woman, Bathilda is from there, right? I just didn't understand what sword we're looking for. Is it a horcrux?"

The three wizards shared accusing glances as they turned back to the leader of the mission.

" We didn't tell you, really?" Harry asked, sounding completely innocently. " The sword of Gryffindor is a certain way to destroy horcruxes. Fineus Nigelus told us, when we blindfolded him. And I was supposed to get it from Dumbledore, but the Minister kept it away from me. So I suppose, actually, Hermione supposes, that the one n Hogwarts isn't real. Dumbledore has certainly made a clone and left it there and the real one he has hidden somewhere and I suppose it might be in a place, that he is sure I'll visit. And well, Godric's Hollow sounds very well."

Naruto gasped dramatically and for a second there, Harry thought, that there was a dementor behind him or something. But then the blonde grinned.

" I know! I know! Dumbledore has given the sword to Bathilda! He had known, that Harry would want to go back to see the graves of his parents and his old house and she has been their neighbor, I mean, I think so. Godric's Hollow doesn't sound like a city, but more like a mountain village, so..."

" For the first time in your life you actually follow the conversation and do not involve your fists." Kankuro commented and started a nagging-war with the blonde Jinchuuriki, while Kiba, Neji and Sai were trying to pull them away from one other.

" Does that mean, that we're going?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows, waiting for an answer. Kakashi shrugged.

" Well, it's your mission...eeh, job, after all. We're only here to protect you, so we'll do as you wish. And we'll only give a competent opinion for the situation, if you want it."

'' And what is your competent opinion right now?"

" That it's a trap." Kakashi continued on reading, as the three teenagers looked at him shocked. " But who am I to keep Harry away from his birthplace and his parents?"

Silence descended once again, until Sakura decided to clear her throat.

" How about we get moving? I mean, I am kind of freezing and my chakra will get absorbed if I keep on coating myself in it..."

" Yeah, S-Sakura is right." Hinata muttered, trembling slightly. " Let's go."

* * *

They made the camp not in the village, but in a forest nearby. Kakashi wouldn't take such a risk after suspecting, that Voldemort might be in the village. He didn't want to spoil the moment of Harry. He was so close to his parents now, after all...

And the boy just seemed so excited, as he was pulling his shoes on, preparing himself to get in the cold reality outside of the seal and spells, that were keeping them hidden, safe and warm. He was going to be accompanied by his two comrades as well as by two shinobi, that would make sure to stay put in the shadows and those shinobi were Temari and Shikamaru. And, hell, that was probably the worst duo they could have picked for this task. Shikamaru was complaining about the weather. It was snowy, there was a storm outside and it wouldn't be exactly nice to walk out there right now. Temari didn't like this fact, wither, but it was kind of acceptable for her, since she's spent her whole life in the desert. And, well, snow wasn't something she's encountered till now. And now that she did, she found out, that she didn't like it. At all.

As they were preparing themselves to leave, Harry-filled with excitement, Ron and Hermione-with blunt smiles, the two shinobi-with visible frowns, Kakashi was actually watching the village from the spot they have chosen. It looked almost empty. He could see the church and the lights inside, that were almost the only light there right now. He was almost 100 percent sure, that it was Christmas Eve. The months have passed rather quickly, most of them they have done absolutely nothing, in Grimmauld Place, only planning their invasion on the Ministry. Which didn't go on exactly as planned. And since they met the wizards, actually, they've never had a successful plan. And that was probably, why Shikamaru has given up on trying to form some ultra-genius techniques and has decided to act on a whim. It was going on fine well, at least for now. But Kakashi hated experimenting like this and the fact, that the by didn't have any back-up plans, or at least, that he hasn't shared anything with the sensei was keeping him on his toes. The five people were moving towards the door of the wooden house, that Yamato has designed.

And for a second there, he wanted to stop them, because he had an awful feeling. But then, just by taking a glimpse at the sight of his students around the fireplace with cups of hot chocolate in their arms, some of the other shinobi on the sofa, chatting friendly, thirds-waving goodbye at the leaving ones...all of this made him calm down a little.

At least they were together and they weren't far from the village. If they didn't return in half an hour, he'd definitely go after them. And then he'd hate himself for the rest of his life if anything has happened with them, just like with Obito and Rin, and Minato.

Instead of thinking about that, he looked back up and made himself smile under the mask, as Shikamaru looked at him, before disappearing behind the door.

And once he made sure they were gone, his instincts took over and he shook his head, because he knew, that someone would be offended at the end of this.

" Team 7 and Hinata! After them, now. Make sure, that they won't catch you tailing them!"


	22. Chapter 22

**I am sorry about this huge delay, but I really have too much work to do. I barely have time to be productive and I fear, that by taking this long, I am losing readers, which isn't exactly what I want...**

**And for this you get this extra long chapter :)**

**However, enjoy :)**

* * *

**_Chapter 22_**

" All this snow!" Hermione whispered beneath the cloak. "Why didn't we think of snow? After all our precautions, we'll leave prints! Jeez, how stupid I am! And how come they don't leave any prints?! It's so weird!"

" We have chakra, sweetheart..." a voice whispered behind the Trio and as Hermione turned around there was nobody, she only heard a ghostly giggle in front of her. Damn that Temari. She seemed like she was having too much fun in this whole situation, while Shikamaru was simply walking next to their invisibility cloak and he was not leaving any footprints in the snow. When Hermione raised the cloak and removed it with a swift movement, she sighed.

" There's no need for this cloak. We don't look like ourselves and there's barely anybody...and...what did she mean? How come you won't leave footprints since you have chakra?"

This time, Shikamaru sighed and visibly shivered because of the wind. He, from the person he has decided to transform into, a young man, not older than eighteen, with black locks and brown eyes, looked at the old lady, that Hermione has turned into. Then he shifted his gaze to the two geezers behind her. He rolled his eyes and started explaining.

" We can use chakra for almost everything. And when we direct our chakra to our feet, we can walk on water...you already know that. Well, it's the same with snow. It kind of fuses with the snowflakes and they become hard, so that we wouldn't leave any prints. Of course, any shinobi could tail us, since there are traces, that our chakra leaves, but that's not important right now. This village is just so empty...I don't sense anything weird...except for that."

He added the last part, as Temari threw herself on his back from somewhere, transformed into a young girl with black locks and dimples. She was holding his neck with one hand and with the other one pushed herself, so that she'd spin in the air and land as light as a feather in front of him, all flushed.

" That's so fun! And I thought snow was awful! Oh, how wrong I was. Simply because it's a bit cold! So what? It's so much fun!"

At that part, she bucked and formed a little snowball, that she threw at Shikamaru. He dodged it by simply taking a step left. She giggled and continued on running. Way too fast for a human being, though.

However, Hermione smiled. So that woman wasn't as tough as she seemed, huh? And she could simply swear, that if somebody looked at them right now from somewhere would see them as some kind of family. Two little kids, that looked alike, probably siblings, their grandparents and the best friend of the grandpa. That was a nice sight even from Hermione's perspective and she, from the three wizards, was probably the one, that feared most, that something bad would happen. She was paranoid and that was good, given the fact, that they were in an unknown place with only two shinobi as protection. And, hell, Kakashi's words were troubling her...a trap? Who could possibly set up a trap in such a small village?

Well, Voldemort, duh...the answer was immediately in her mind. That bastard knew Harry's weaknesses better than anybody, since her best friend was a stupid idiot, that simply refused to learn oclumancy.

" There it is!" Ron's voice attracted her attention and she followed the direction he was pointing at with the old man's finger. It was a church and the lights were actually on, you could also hear music from the inside. A gospel chor. And Hermione suddenly twitched.

" I think it's Christmas Eve."

" Seriously?!" Harry and Ron asked in unison, while Temari and Shikamaru looked up to them in confusion.

" What?"

And now it was the Trio's turn to be shocked.

" Excuse me, did you just ask what Christmas is?" Harry asked, trying to convince himself, that he hasn't heard properly. It was Shikamaru standing in front of him, after all. And Shikamaru knew everything! Shikamaru knew more about the magic world than harry, and hell, he wasn't even one of them!

" Yes. I suppose it is some special day."

Hermione nodded.

" Yes. The 24. December. That's the supposed day, when Jesus Christ has been born. But I guess you wouldn't know that, since you're actually...well, are you buddhists?"

" Erm, no, whatever that is." Temari looked at Shikamaru, who shrugged.

" Those are different types of religions..." Ron said, his face with a smug smile. It was the first time he knew something and Shikamaru didn't. And, well, you could say that it was an accomplishment. A pretty tough one.

" Ah. Religions. Of course we wouldn't know about your religions." Temari snorted and continued walking, while Ron gaped at her. She has destroyed his moment of glory and that, he couldn't forgive. " OI, SHIKAMARU! Remember that Jashin freak from the Akatsuki? He once attacked Suna...he was so, so weird and hell, every second word of his was Jashin, Jashin...what was his name again..."

" Hidan." Shikamaru muttered, far lower than before and Temari immediately shut up. She stopped running around and went quiet.

Hermione, Ron and Harry exchanged glances, until the Chosen one decided to ask what was going on.

" Who is he?"

" Somebody dead." Shikamaru said quickly and then continued a bit faster, not wanting to speak about that religious freak. Hidan was dead. He killed him. And it would be a mockery if that annoying person, who was summoning dead criminals brought back the Jashin freak. That would be the end of Shikamaru.

No. He stopped and then smirked. They couldn't bring back Hidan, because, technically, he wasn't dead. He was immortal, after all. No, no, no...

Shikamaru smirked slightly.

Hidan couldn't be back, because he was currently probably swearing in the darkest of the pits in the Nara's family forest, his escape denied by his inability to move and, of course, the countless paper bombs and other traps, that only a Nara could think of.

And Hermione was simply smart enough to shake her head and stop Ron from asking any further questions. Besides, they were already standing in front of the gate of the cemetery. The girl found herself another thing to talk about.

" It's kind of creepy."

" Don't worry. We're here and we'll protect you." Temari said and looked around carefully, while Hermione smiled.

" I said it was creepy. I didn't say anything about worrying. I know you're here...always...even when we don't expect you to be."

* * *

_" Shit, shit, shit, shit!"_ Naruto muttered quietly and adjusted himself better behind the tree. _" She so knows, that we're also here!"_

_" Shikamaru doesn't know! Temari doesn't know! And you expect her to know!? God, Naruto, that's laughable."_ Sasuke commented, while Sakura raised her eyebrows tauntingly.

_" Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she really knows. She is smart enough to know what Kakashi would be thinking. Well, of course, Shikamaru won't know, since his intelligence level is on a whole new lever, but if you ask me, in a way, Hermione is smarter than us."_

_" No way."_ Sasuke grunted and looked away, while Hinata coughed quietly.

_" They're...They're entering the cemetery. Would we follow them there as well?"_

_" Yes, especially there!"_

_" Tch. It's only a cemetery...What could possibly happen?"_

* * *

" Harry, you should come over here!"

Hermione's voice reached his ears and he tensed immediately. She has found them! She has found his parents! She wouldn't be calling him otherwise. However, he was rushing down the path towards the tombstone, that Hermione was standing in front of. Ron was already beside her. temari and Shikamaru just reached her, which made him last. And once he arrived, he looked at the stone skeptically. It was old and crumpled, destroyed.

And when he leaned in to read the name, he never saw Potter or Evans. Only Ignotus Peverell. That wasn't a name he has ever heard before. He tried to remember if he has had any classmate with such a family name, considering the chance of that person, Ignotus, being the great-great-great-grandfather of somebody. But he couldn't remember anything. He finally gave in and asked.

" Who is this?"

" Oh, I don't know." Hermione answered to his utter bewilderment. He looked up to her, trying to decide whether to be annoyed or surprised, or maybe even angry. However, she spoke before he could open his mouth. " Look at this!"

He narrowed his eyes at the lower part of the tombstone and noticed something, that the snow was almost covering. He bucked down and noticed the sign. The triangle with the circle and the line. The same one, that Hermione has asked for earlier. The same one, that Xenophilius Lovegood was wearing on the wedding.

" Again?" Ron asked, after he saw the sign, that Hermione was pointing at. " Oh, come on, Hermione, do you have a radar for that thing or something?"

That ended with him being hit. ANd then- a nagging war. That's when Shikamaru and Temari stood on both sides of Harry, looking at the sign, trying to memorize it.

" Where have you seen it before?"

" The father of Luna was wearing it at the wedding and we saw it in the book, that Dumbledore has left for Hermione. I don't really know what it means." Hary shook his head and turned around. " It doesn't actually matter, does it?"

" Of course it does. Maybe Dumbledore has wanted you to know about that sign, since he's left it in the book." temari answered, then continued walking between the paths, searching for the graves of Harry's parents. He looked down to the dark tombstone of Ignotus Peverell with a total blank, then shrugged and continued walking on his own. And that's when Hermione called him once again. But this time, her voice was a bit tense and he felt it. And that's when he knew, what she has found this time. He turned around and rushed over to her. And this time, he was the first one to arrive. He barely felt his friends line up behind him, because he was too busy looking at the names carved in the shining white marble.

James Potter and Lilly Evans.

He knelt down and touched the stone, too many emotions running through him at the moment. ANd immediately, he felt like such a fool, like such an idiot. He has forgotten to bring flowers! And those were his parents! he couldn't have possibly been that stupid. And Hermione, as every other tre friend, was already waving her wand in the air and after only seconds, was shoving the bouquet in his arms. He gave her a grateful smile and then placed the flowers on the ground in font of the stones. That's when he saw the words beneath the days of birth and death.

' The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death'

He shivered as the meaning of the words made contact with his brain cells.

" That's the insignia of the Death Eaters, isn't it? Why is their insignia on their tombstone? Why-"

Hermione was immediately next to him, her arm on his shoulder.

" Harry, no...It means life after the death. It has nothing to do with the Death Eaters. they use it, for completely different reasons, but the true meaning of these words is...the hope, that they're giving."

The boy stood like this a bit longer, assimilating her words, trying his all to believe her, but there was something else, that bothered him.

" Don't move." he heard Shikamaru whisper. " We're being watched."

And that's when he tensed completely. What would people think? Five muggles, that were leaving flowers on the grave of the parents of probably the most famous wizard of the generation. That wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't planned. He stood up carefully, while Ron offered his hand to hermione, which she refused with a grunt and stood up on her own. They all turned around and noticed the shadowy figure at the gate. It was a woman, undoubtedly, but beneath all the scarfs and coats, it was actually hard to tell who it was. Her face was hidden in darkness.

And she was simply staring at them, without moving.

" What are we going to do?" Shikamaru asked Harry, whose eyes snapped open.

" You ask me! You're the smart one! Ask yourself!"

" Well, it was your wish to be here, so we follow your lead. So..."

" I don't know. That seems like a harmless old lady...I..I don't know. You're here with us, so we shouldn't be afraid, right?" Temari nodded way too quickly, patting the fan on her back as a smiled weakly and then looked directly into Shikamaru's eyes. " Well, then I would like to see my home."

" Your home it is..." the shinobi sighed and waved for Harry to walk past him.

* * *

_" What is that?"_ Sasuke grunted and Sakura elbowed him.

_" It's a person! You shouldn't ask 'what'?! That's so insolent, really..." _

_" OK, fine...who is that?"_

_" As if we know..."_ she answered and received a vicious glare from him.

_" We should follow them. That woman is walking behind them."_ Hinata answered and Naruto looked into her face.

He frowned. Something wasn't alright and he knew it.

_" Oi, Hinata, is she...I mean...does she look like a normal person or a wizard? I mean, do you see any magic in her?"_

And the frown on Hinata's face only deepened.

_" That's the problem. I see too much magic in her."_

Those words were like an untold signal for them to move, because after only a glance, they started jumping from tree to tree, closer to their friends, still masking their chakra, just in case.

* * *

" And you are...?" Voldemort's voice resounded in the room, although he wasn't even speaking loudly. His words sounded like a hiss, but everybody was extremely quiet, so that they could hear him clearly.

The man in front of him wasn't something he has expected to ever see. He had a giant snake coming from beneath his cloak. And that snake was hissing quietly into his ear. Voldemort wasn't close enough to hear it, but he knew, that he could understand it, whatsoever. And after he saw him, he immediately knew, that he wasn't a simple wizard. No, no. Voldemort wasn't stupid. He knew, that the person in front of him was a shinobi. A ninja. Just like Orochimaru.

Tch. Orochimaru, who claimed to be the best. And he was taken down by two people, which was laughable. And the awe, that Voldemort has beared for those people before was now completely gone. They weren't better than them. No, they were idiots, who were claiming to be extremely powerful. But they weren't obviously. His mind shifted to the Ministry of Magic for a moment, where he faced two of the boys. Two boys, that were protecting Potter. The one that Orochimaru was after and the one, that the Akatsuki were after. Well, maybe there were some extremely powerful in their world, but it wasn't unheard of. Although he didn't want to admit it, they were the ones, that have somehow created them, wizards. It was only natural for them to be strong. But not as strong as they claimed to be.

" Kabuto." the answer of the shinobi was as quiet as the question. There were a few giggles from the room, obviously the Death Eaters found that name funny. And as if to prove them wrong, the shinobi he raised his head so that they could see his face.

And Voldemort didn't let the shock appear on his face. The resemblance between Orochimaru and this..this boy was huge. This man had purple eye markings along with scaly patterns on his face and much of his body. He wore his hair in an unkempt bowl cut, allowing it to grow out. He wore a maroon-coloured cloak with a hood designed to resemble a serpent's head, with white, red, and yellow markings that resembled eyes.

" I am Orochimaru-sama's apprentice."

" Apprentice?"

" Yes. I was here two years ago. You probably don't remember me...I didn't quite_ look_ like this."

It took Voldemort a while to understand what that guy has meant. And something in him alarmed, as he remembered the boy from two years ago. He had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which was being kept in a ponytail that extended to his upper back, with his bangs framing either side of his forehead. In the majority of his earlier appearances, he wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar, a white under-shirt, dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of the hand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a shuriken holster on his right leg. And after he took a closer look in that face in front of him, he actually spotted the same person in there. And the words, that escaped his mouth were filled with...what? Disgust probably? Or no, maybe surprise.

" What have you done to yourself?!"

" I transfused blood with Orochimaru-sama's DNA in my system. Now his powers are mine, but much stronger. I was able to make them better. To actually succeed in surpassing him...but that is on a completely different subject. I am here to talk to you about Harry Potter."

Voldemort narrowed his eyes immediately and his Death Eaters started he raised hs arm and hissed a low.

" Silence!" then he looked back at Kabuto and his emotionless face. " What about him?"

" He hasn't returned to Hogwarts, but I guess you already know that, since you have your people in there." Kabuto's eyes shifted to Severus Snape, who was standing in the front line of Death Eaters, between the Carrows and Bellatrix Lestrange. " However, he is somewhere out there, hiding from you. And I guess you know, that he has infiltrated the ministry of magic, that is also under the control of your weaklings, for some unknown reason. I have all the reasons to believe, that all he tries right now, that you make him seem guilty for everything, he wants to escape this world. And for that reason, he also haves shinobi with himself. I guess you are aware of that fact as well, right?"

" I am."

" And how do you plan on defeating them with your lame wizard troops?"

" I don't." Voldemort's answer probably surprised most of his Death Eaters, and Kabuto, who was definitely hiding it, as let a hideous smirk appear on his face " You see, I know Potter. I know the boy better than anybody else. I have everything planned. He is a person, that would do anything for his friends. He would crawl to help them. And, I have most of his friends under my control. In Hogwarts."

" So you want to manipulate the boy, but that doesn't stop the fact, that the shinobi won't leave his side."

" That's the point in manipulating. If the shinobi appear, all his friends die. If they don't appear, I kill Potter first, then all his mudblood friends. I may spare the pureblood ones, but if they happen to be struggling, well, I think we've got more than enough of them."

" You do realize, that Konnoha shinobi aren't as weak as you think they are, right? Orochimaru-sama had difficulties in defeating them. The Akatsuki, the most powerful organization, they all died because of only less than twenty ninjas from Konohagakure. Do you think, that their Hokage will let anything happen to the boy and this world?"

" Their world...your world has nothing to do with our world! It's none of their business!"

" It is...you see, Konoha shinobi believe, that friendship defeats everything. And once their friends are in danger, they would do anything...anything to help them, even if it means leaving their village unprotected. They would come here and kill all of you. She would come here, Tsunade Senju, she would kill you herself if you even intend on hurting any of her shinobi. She would crush your bone, one by one, she wouldn't let you do anything to defend yourself, because you don't even stand a chance against someone like her. Like us. You have to accept the fact, that compared to us, you are nothing."

Voldemort raised his wand and yelled the dead spell, because Kabuto was not exactly a likeable person. However, the spell hit one of his less important Death-Eaters. And he could feel steel against his neck and heat behind him. So kabuto was behind him, threatening his life. Such a fool. He was immortal!

" You see? You are nothing compared to us? Your speed, we can outrun you. Your strength, we can crush you. Your senses, they can't feel the little things, that ours do..." Kabuto sihed in Voldemort's ear. " All of you, it is useless to even raise your wands. If anybody even tries, he would have to say goodbye to his life."

Voldemort lost the feeling of the steel for a few seconds, but instead heart a strangled cry and then, when he turned around, saw one of his men down, lying in a pool of his own blood. Then, a second one, in the other side of the hall. And then the steel was at his neck once again. All of this in a matter of three seconds.

" So listen closely to me now." Kabuto continued once again. " I have my goals. I want to gain control over this world. Not yours, the Earth, in general, but mostly, the hidden continent. I can help you catch the boy, because that way I'd be able to reach my goal faster. So...what do you say?"

" You want to help me with catching Potter? And how would you exactly help me with that?" Voldemort hissed.

" By eliminating the shinobi with him, of course. Like I said, by helping you, I am reaching towards my goal."

Voldemort didn't think about it too hard. It was only natural to accept such a nice offer. But then again, that guy was weird.

" How do I know, that you're going to help me and then not turn yourself against me?"

Kabuto lowered the knif and appeared in front of Voldemort with a wide smirk, that kept on widening on his face.

" i am now the strongest of all. I was able to master the technique to return dead people to life. And so, I have chosen the strongest shinobi, that are now all under my control. And now, four of them, are in Godric's Hollow."

Volcemort's eyes snapped wide open, as he heard that name. How the hell did this boy know of Godric's Hollow?! And could he possibly know about Nagini?!

" And your snake..." he continued and Voldemort went silent. "...it was already there, when I sent my people. I guess you knew, that he'd appear at some point."

" What do you mean?!"

" How come?" Kabuto laughed. " While we're talking at the moment, the boy is in Godric's Hollow. In front of his old house."

* * *

**I hope you liked it!**

**Please, review!**

**Until next time! **

**xox**


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